Long John Silver’s released a curious new logo last week, featuring a chicken in the center.
It’s curious, because Long John Silver’s specializes in seafood. Why put a chicken on the logo of a fish chain? Along with “Chicken + Seafood” at the bottom?
Ostensibly, the new logo is designed to remind customers that it has plenty of chicken on its menu. The Louisville, Kentucky-based chain has long sold chicken and these days features items such as “Chicken Planks,” or batter-fried chicken strips, along with Nashville Hot Chicken and Chicken Wraps.
“Guests have been telling us for years that our chicken is a best-kept secret,” Christopher Caudill, Long John Silver’s SVP of marketing and innovation, said in a statement. “It’s time we let that secret out.”
That said, Long John Silver’s wants to get more customers into its restaurants, and it’s easier to attract them with chicken than it is with fish.
Long John Silver’s was founded in 1969. The chain was named for the character from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island.
At one point, the brand had nearly 1,500 locations, most of them franchised. The chain filed for bankruptcy and then in 1999 was sold to A&W Restaurants, forming Yorkshire Global Restaurants.
Logo courtesy of Long John Silver's.
The next year, Yorkshire and KFC owner Yum Brands agreed to test cobranding their various chains under the theory that having more than one brand under one roof will eliminate the dreaded “veto vote.” Yum bought Yorkshire two years later. But that cobranding arrangement never quite worked and by 2011 Yum sold A&W and Long John Silver’s in separate deals.
Long John Silver’s has been shuttering locations since then. It has less than a third of the locations it operated at its peak. Its $830,000 average unit volumes have improved of late, but that remains under industry average. By comparison, longtime rival Captain D’s has unit volumes just over $1 million.
Both seafood chains have had stagnant sales results. Long John Silver’s system sales have averaged a 2.5% decline over the past five years, compared with a 0.5% decline at Captain D’s.
Chicken, of course, is hot right now. Some of the country’s fastest-growing chains focus on chicken, including Raising Cane’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken. But just about every major fast-food chain, including McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Wendy’s, have a stated desire to sell more chicken. Seafood chains, including Long John Silver’s and Captain D’s, have long had chicken on their menus.
U.S. consumers eat about five times more chicken than they do seafood, according to federal data. And nearly four times as many consumers say that chicken is their favorite protein than those who say fish, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association last year.
It’s not certain how extensive Long John Silver’s new logo is. The logo is being rolled out on digital platforms—it’s already on the company’s website—and it will appear on Long John Silver’s Front Row Motorsports car during a NASCAR Cup series race in Las Vegas next weekend.
But changing a logo to reflect the broadened menu? That’s something we haven’t seen, at least since IHOP temporarily changed its name to IHOB to sell more burgers.
“Seafood will always be part of our DNA,” Caudill said. “But chicken is also part of our heritage, and a big part of our future, so it serves its rightful place on our logo, our menu and our guests’ tables.”
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