Every new fried chicken joint that’s opened in Tampa Bay over the last two years

It’s not your imagination, Tampa Bay is currently saturated with fried chicken.

Sure, we’ve always had our share of classic fried chicken staples, but over the last few years dozens of national chains, local spots, food trucks and more have popped up all over the Bay area, and it’s not a trend that’s unique to us.

It’s happening everywhere, and there’s no one exact reason for the overall chicken-ing of America. But some would argue this all started with the rapid growth of Chick-Fil-A, coupled with the viral pandemic-era Popeye’s Chicken sandwich craze of 2020.

According to a study from Edison Trends, Americans love chicken. It’s not the only the most consumed meat in the U.S., but spending on chicken sandwiches grew by 420% from January 2019 to December of 2020. In that same period, Chick-fil-A was responsible for 45% of all chicken sandwich spending.

And the chicken wave hasn’t slowed down. Last year, research firm Market Research Future estimated that the takeout fried-chicken market will grow by $1.92 billion from 2021 to 2026, and will continue to expand by 5.5% every year until 2030.

So it makes sense that restaurateurs are jumping on the fried chicken wagon, especially in places like Florida, and specifically Tampa Bay, where the population growth has exploded since the pandemic.

To keep track of it all, we decided to go back and look at every new fried chicken spot that has debuted over the last two years. We also included concepts that are about to open in Tampa Bay, as well.

Here’s every new concept that’s been on our radar.