I tried Wendy's new Maple Butter Chicken Biscuit to compare it with Chick-fil-A's version, and the newcomer is a pale imitation

Irene Jiang / Business Insider

• Wendy's has a Maple Butter Chicken Biscuit on its breakfast menu. The chain will be rolling out a version of that menu to all stores in 2020.
• The only other major chain to serve a chicken biscuit for breakfast is Chick-fil-A, so it looks like Wendy's new chicken biscuit is meant to compete directly with the Southern chicken chain's offering.
• I tried both biscuits to see how they compared, and I found that Wendy's has a lot of work to do before its chicken biscuit can be a serious threat to the Chick-fil-A original.
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I tried everything on the breakfast menu that Wendy's is rolling out in 2020, and one item, in particular, stood out to me: the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit.

The only other major chain that has a breakfast chicken biscuit is Chick-fil-A.

The fact that Wendy's is rolling out a chicken biscuit for breakfast seems like a play for Chick-fil-A's well-established territory. And Wendy's has set itself up for a difficult task in competing with the southern chain's storied offering.

Both fried chicken and biscuits are in Chick-fil-A's blood, while Wendy's expertise is beef and it hails from the Midwest.

Read more: I tried every item on Wendy's new breakfast menu that is rolling out nationwide, and it blew me away

So how does Wendy's untested newcomer stack up to Chick-fil-A's reigning champion? I compared the two, and it turns out that the proof is in the biscuit.

Wendy's Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit cost $2.59 at the Manhattan restaurant I went to.

Meanwhile, Chick-fil-A's Chicken Biscuit cost $3.49, also in Manhattan.

Side-by-side, the biscuits are already clearly on different levels. Chick-fil-A's biscuit is taller, firmer, and more colorful, while Wendy's has a more uniform, albeit flatter chicken patty.

See Also:

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• Chick-fil-A tops ranking of fast-food chains with the best food in America
• Chick-fil-A's drive-thru service is among the slowest in a new survey — here's how 10 major chains rank

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