Chicken chain cuts portion sizes amid bird flu supply crunch

A major Korean fried chicken franchise has quietly reduced portion sizes amid a supply crunch caused by a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak — roughly six months after the government introduced mandatory weight labeling for fried chicken to prevent exactly that practice.

According to industry sources Monday, G&Food, the operator of Goobne Chicken, adjusted the pre-cooked weights of its boneless thigh, wingette and whole drumstick menus effective Sunday. The boneless thigh menu dropped from 800 grams to 700 grams. The wingette portion fell from 930 grams or more to 850 grams, and the whole drumstick from 905 grams or more to 820 grams.

G&Food said it made the adjustment to preserve quality rather than compromise on ingredients. "We maintain our principle of using only domestically sourced chicken thigh meat," the company said. "To avoid mixing in imported ingredients or other cuts and to uphold our existing quality standards, we chose to adjust the operating specifications for some menus."

The trigger was the highly pathogenic avian influenza that struck broiler farms last winter, which tightened chicken supplies and sharply raised raw material costs for the company this year. Logistics costs have also climbed due to the war in the Middle East.

Those pressures had fueled speculation of industrywide price increases, but the "Big Three" — BBQ, bhc and Kyochon — led a price freeze in line with the government's push to keep inflation in check, effectively absorbing the added costs at the corporate level.

Against that backdrop, Goobne Chicken's decision is widely seen as a form of shrinkflation — a practice in which sellers maintain the retail price while reducing the size or weight of a product, typically during prolonged periods of high inflation. The chicken industry has been here before: Kyochon Chicken drew criticism in September last year after trimming the weight of some menus, only to reverse course after public backlash. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety responded by introducing mandatory weight labeling for fried chicken in December last year.

Some in the industry view the decision as a calculated gamble. "Raising the consumer price is not an option, and passing higher supply costs on to franchisees would burden them further," one industry official said. "It looks like a last resort to protect margins." Another official pointed to the specific challenges of boneless and partial cuts. "Boneless and partial cuts require more processing than whole broilers, so unit costs are higher — and output has fallen recently," the official said. "Supply difficulties would have been even more acute for those products."

Other major franchise chicken operators say they are not considering weight reductions, though they are worried about falling profitability as the supply crunch drags on. The industry expects chicken supply to normalize only gradually after the summer peak season. July — which includes the first and second of the traditional "boknal" midsummer heat days, when chicken consumption surges — is seen as the critical test.

Chicken prices have been climbing of late. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation, the domestic broiler price reached 6,657 won ($4.80) per kilogram as of Sunday, up about 17 percent from the same date last year. Broiler prices crossed the 6,000-won mark in mid-February this year, hit 6,772 won in mid-April, and have since fluctuated around the 6,500-won level.

President Lee Jae-myung doubled down on price stability at a Cabinet meeting combined with an emergency economic review session held at Cheong Wa Dae that day. "It is clear that without price stability, economic growth, reducing polarization and the country's sustained development are all impossible," he said.

Lee urged ministries to act swiftly on measures to ease the burden on household grocery bills, including preemptive releases from government stockpiles, expanded discount support and additional quota tariff allocations. He also warned that market-distorting behavior would not be tolerated. "As I have stressed repeatedly, hoarding and price-fixing collusion must be investigated thoroughly and punished severely — companies should feel that a single violation could put them out of business," he said.