Wendy’s in Xcanatún has a new neighbor from Canada. Just 900 meters up the street, Mary Brown’s Chicken is serving up hot and fresh competition. 

That not only turns up the heat for Wendy’s, but also US-based Church’s and KFC, as well as local brands like Flamante and Mitica — all combatants in the chicken sandwich war.

Americans might not have heard of MB Chicken, as it’s known outside of its home territory. But the fast-food chain is beloved up north. The Newfoundland-based chain has expanded to 257 locations throughout Canada since starting in 1969.

The opening is part of a huge international push. Its first European location was in Lisburn and then Northern Ireland. After that came the Mérida franchise, which is still under construction on the highway to Progreso. 

“It’s exciting to see this international development finally getting going,” said Dylan Powell, vice president of international development at Mary Brown’s Chicken. “Mary Brown’s has been a part of the Canadian fabric for a long time now, but other than one other attempt to get into Turkey a few years ago, we have not really ventured outside of Canada until now.”

Mary Brown’s positions itself as “the largest Canadian-owned quick-serve chicken restaurant,” according to Franchise Times. They haven’t announced plans to enter the chicken-sandwich wars in the U.S. market, which Dylan described as oversaturated.

“We are very popular here in Canada because people know we serve fresh farm-raised chicken and taters prepared from scratch with our proprietary cookers that eliminate a lot of the grease you get from the other brands,” Dylan said.

“It is very important that we maintain the standard of our food overseas,” he said, “and the restaurant operators we selected to partner with for international development have the experience and local knowledge to do it.”

The Mérida branch will be a standalone location with around 4,000 square feet, he said.