Best Fast Food Chicken Sandwich Is Popeyes.

[Josh]

Most years I don't have any fast-food chicken sandwiches, so maybe I shouldn't have voted, but Popeyes is the one that is memorable and tasty. KFC isn't bad, especially the extra crisp version. I think I had chic-filet once and used to work at a McDonalds--and was unimpressed by both. I don't remember having any of the others.

I’m glad to see at least 1 person who doesn’t consume corporate fake food.

Are you OK with fried chicken and fried chicken sandwiches if they are sold by small local business that aren't corporate? There are thousands of little chicken shacks and food trucks selling fried chicken and chicken sandwiches across the country that are as far as one can get from being corporate "fake" food. My favorite chicken place is a food truck owned and run by an immigrant family from Michoacán. Are you OK with eating at these sorts of places or are they off limits too?





What about this Amish place in Indiana that serves fried chicken sandwiches and fries same as the big guys? Those are some serious carbs on that plate.

Certainly preferable although you’re still likely getting mass grown factory farmed chicken, which I tend to avoid.

[RZehr]

In 2016 we had some hens that weren't laying well anymore, so I pressure canned a number of them.
In 2019 we had a great crop of tomatoes and jalapeños. We canned a lot of salsa.
The lettuce in our backyard needed harvesting.
We had cheese and flatbread in our refrigerator.

A great fast food sandwich of canned chicken, salsa, cheese, and lettuce on flatbread. Much faster than a 15-minute drive to the nearest McD's or a 40-minute drive to any of these other places. And tastier, too.

I’ll be happy to try your sandwich.

[steve-in-kville]

One thing our area is starting to see are food trucks, which is welcome for us.

[Josh]

An area near me now has a “food truck parking lot” where food trucks are parked permanently. One of them is operated by a restaurant a mile away.

I really don’t see the benefit of a food truck versus a restaurant, but then again I’ve never been an RV person either.

[steve-in-kville]

You have to understand that up until a few years ago, our area didn't have much in the line of specialty food. And by our area, something within a few minutes of home. We had a taco place that shared space within a gas station but that went out some time ago. There are a few smaller cafe's opening but its limited parking and hours.

We've had a few BBQ trucks parked at local business' and they are doing well, but its just Saturdays until sold out at this point. My SIL and her husband started an Indian food takeout venture as a fund raiser, but thats still every other Saturday at this point.

[Ken]

An area near me now has a “food truck parking lot” where food trucks are parked permanently. One of them is operated by a restaurant a mile away.

I really don’t see the benefit of a food truck versus a restaurant, but then again I’ve never been an RV person either.

Two advantages:

1. Much lower startup and operating costs. There are many people, especially immigrants with limited means who might be able to open a food truck but could never afford to open a traditional restaurant. Food trucks don't need tables and chairs and wait staff and bathrooms and rented space in a commercial building.

2. Mobility means you are not limited to one location. You can serve weekday lunch crowds in one location like a downtown parking lot and weekend crowds in another location like a farmer's market. Or outside a stadium on game day.

Around here, food trucks are often testing grounds for small immigrant restaurants and the most successful often eventually "graduate" up to regular sit-down restaurants after they have developed their business and built a clientele. Those who fail can always sell the food truck to the next guy who wants to give it a try.

[Josh]

Long ago I was involved with a ministry that, for some reason, got donated a food truck. It cost $300,000 and was a surprisingly basic setup.

More recently, I was involved with a small café sort of establishment. The start up costs of that are way lower than a food truck. For starters, you don’t have to buy or lease a rather large vehicle. You just need to rent a storefront.

I think food trucks mostly exist to get around onerous zoning laws and health codes. I say this because a city not too far from me spent a lot of money on fighting food trucks in court. The only reason was “we only want the restaurants we already have in our pre planned restaurant zone”. The existing restaurants strongly supported this.

Anyway. The food truck here is associated with a well established Mexican restaurant. It spends its time parked in a “food truck park” where other food trucks (also associated with local restaurants) are permanently parked.

[steve-in-kville]

Street food, as a whole, fascinates me. I follow a few Youtube channels that specialize in this all over the world. Korea, Pakistan and Indian are my favorite and I have managed to duplicate some of the dishes. Basic food for any budget!

[Ken]

Your numbers are off. Or that $300,000 food truck must have been one seriously deluxe version.

A quick bit of googling tells me that the cost of a new food truck start-up operation is between $50,000 and $175,000: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-much- ... st-2888316 And in many cases we aren't really talking about food trucks anyway. But rather food carts or food trailers that are more or less permanent installations in parking lots and don't have their own engines. Mostly what I see around here are just trailers sitting in food card "pods" and not self-propelled food trucks.

By contrast, the average cost of a brick and mortar restaurant start-up is $275,000 or $3,046 per seat for a leased building. Bump that up to $425,000 or $3,734 per seat—if you want to own the building. https://www.sage.com/en-us/accounting-s ... %20reality.

In any event, the restaurant business is all about location. I'm sure there are thousands of cheap locations in every city that would be poor and unproductive places in which to locate a restaurant. And the prime locations tend to be expensive.

[Josh]

Your numbers are off. Or that $300,000 food truck must have been one seriously deluxe version.

A quick bit of googling tells me that the cost of a new food truck start-up operation is between $50,000 and $175,000: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-much- ... st-2888316 And in many cases we aren't really talking about food trucks anyway. But rather food carts or food trailers that are more or less permanent installations in parking lots and don't have their own engines. Mostly what I see around here are just trailers sitting in food card "pods" and not self-propelled food trucks.

By contrast, the average cost of a brick and mortar restaurant start-up is $275,000 or $3,046 per seat for a leased building. Bump that up to $425,000 or $3,734 per seat—if you want to own the building. https://www.sage.com/en-us/accounting-s ... %20reality.

In any event, the restaurant business is all about location. I'm sure there are thousands of cheap locations in every city that would be poor and unproductive places in which to locate a restaurant. And the prime locations tend to be expensive.

Your numbers are way off. The food truck I talked about was requisitioned back in the 2000s. They probably cost more now.

Anyway, at that cafe, we had a deal with a guy who roasted coffee. He made a coffee truck sort of like a food truck. It was not cheap to outfit and he did it all himself, and he didn’t have stuff like a deep fryer. He used a 1500 class truck to pull it which aren’t cheap either (used will set you back $20K+ unless you want a seriously old one).

A restaurant near us closed down and eventually offered all their equipment lock stock and barrel. They wanted 20k-25k for the whole lot. Maybe things were cheaper due to lockdown?

I recently looked into buying a building that had a restaurant. Owner offered it for $100k, or $150k if I wanted all the restaurant equipment.