Shake Shack, Church's Chicken, and Wendy's join the battle between Popeyes and Chick-fil-A over the superior chicken sandwich

Irene Jiang / Business Insider

The chicken sandwich wars are escalating.

• Popeyes' new chicken sandwich kicked off a Twitter battle between fast-food brands. 
• Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, Shake Shack, and Church's Chicken have taken to Twitter to defend the superiority of their chicken sandwiches. 
• Bojangles' also tweeted that its chicken biscuit was better than any chicken sandwich - but deleted the tweet. 
• Chicken sandwich competition has been heating up across America in recent months, in part because of Chick-fil-A's expansion. 
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The chicken sandwich wars are escalating. 

Chick-fil-A and Popeyes set off a chicken sandwich debate on social media on Monday when Popeyes quote-tweeted an apparent subtweet from Chick-fil-A. Popeyes recently rolled out a new chicken sandwich that has garnered comparisons to Chick-fil-A's iconic original, with some people saying they consider the new sandwich superior. 

Read more: Popeyes and Chick-fil-A are feuding on Twitter in a battle over which chicken sandwich reigns supreme

Wendy's entered the Twitter feud later on Monday, tweeting: "Y'all out here fighting about which of these fools has the second best chicken sandwich." 

Wendy's and Popeyes continued to go back and forth on Monday, with Popeyes calling Wendy's "thirsty" and Wendy's saying that Popeyes' food is "dry." Wendy's, Popeyes, and Chick-fil-A did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the Twitter battles. 

Read more: Wendy's jumps into the chicken-sandwich Twitter feud between Popeyes and Chick-fil-A

Other chicken chains have jumped into the fray to stake their claim as having the superior chicken sandwich. 

"If you're lookin' for a chicken sandwich (without the beef ), you know where to find us," Shake Shack tweeted on Monday. 

Church's Chicken took to Twitter to proclaim the superiority of its chicken sandwich in a number of tweets. 

Bojangles', a chicken chain with a cult following in the South, entered the debate with a tweet on Monday afternoon stating: "Everybody around here knows the best chicken sandwich is a chicken biscuit." 

However, by Monday evening the tweet had been deleted. TV writer and fast-food expert Bill Oakley noted that people had been responding to the tweet mocking the food for looking dry. Bojangles' did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. 

The chicken sandwich category is hotly contested in 2019.

As Chick-fil-A expands, other chains have taken note of its growth and are attempting to tap into the chicken sandwich market. Chick-fil-A was the third-largest chain in the US by sales in 2018, with $10.46 billion in American system-wide sales.