Fried chicken has become the most competitive food category in America, and the chains that built their empires on it watch regional styles they spent decades ignoring eat into their lead. Nashville hot signs six-figure leases in new cities, the Korean double-fry technique rewrites what a crust is supposed to do and the Southern independents who never needed a marketing budget are suddenly the ones everyone tries to copy. On National Fried Chicken Day, that competition has never been louder.
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