For nine consecutive years, Chick-fil-A held the top spot on USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards as the best fast-food restaurant in America. But this year, it got knocked off its perch by the Mexican-American Del Taco chain.
That’s quite an accomplishment for a chain with fewer than 600 stores in 18 states concentrated in the Southwest – California boasts nearly 400 stores – and the South; nary a one in the Northeast.
Adding insult to injury, Kentucky Fried Chicken bested Chick-fil-A too, coming in as the number two most popular fast-food destination. KFC’s rise is probably not so much due to the Colonel’s secret recipe, but how it’s leaned into value pricing.
Battered and bruised by inflation, Americans aren’t patronizing fast food restaurants like they used to. A LendingTree survey among 2,000 adults found that nearly 80% consider fast-food a luxury because of high prices and 62% are indulging less often. And Chick-fil-A is called out as the most high-end fast-food chain (25%), followed by Starbucks (22%) and Chipotle (21%).
However, Chick-fil-A isn’t conceding its number-one ranking without a fight. It is introducing new retail formats to put fast back into the fast-food experience.
And Deadline just broke that Chick-fil-A is launching a family-friendly content streaming service so that customers can enjoy the full Chick-fil-A experience at home even when not noshing on their Chick-fil-A takeaway.
New Stores To Serve Better Food Faster
Compared with other fast-food restaurants, Chick-fil-A is renowned for its fresh, high-quality ingredients and exceptional customer service that is rarely matched in other fast-food establishments.
Despite being closed on Sundays, the chain racks up pretty impressive financials, according to QSR, which compiles the private company’s data from its franchise disclosure documents.
Now nearing 3,000 locations, Chick-fil-A reached $21.6 billion in sales in 2023, up from $18.8 billion in 2022.
It’s 2,000 standalone franchise units average annual sales volume of $9.4 million, up 8% over $8.7 million in 2022. According to equity research analyst Mark Kalinowski, a typical Chick-fil-A restaurant brings in less than half that of a McDonald’s unit which averages about $4 million per unit.
After adding nearly 150 locations last year, Chick-fil-A plans 183 new restaurants this year, and it is introducing two new digitally-powered retail formats to the mix: a walk-up store with no in-store dining and an expanded drive-thru concept with the kitchen on the second floor. Both new store models are now live.
The walk-in, mobile pickup location opened this past March in NYC’s Upper East Side. With no seating area or self-service drinks fountains to be had, it is designed for high-volume urban areas where time is precious and people eat on the go.
After a customer places an order on the brand’s mobile app, service staff are alerted via geofencing when the customer is in range so that the order is timed for their arrival. An active status board also displays the status of orders.
The new drive-thru only location just opened in an Atlanta suburb. It is a four-lane model with the capacity to serve 75 cars at once, solving the perennial traffic problem at its typical locations.
Cars drive-thru the ground floor where servers deliver food orders personally, no windows to pass along orders. And the food is prepared on the second floor in a kitchen that is twice as big as the average store. An automated food transport system – a “smart” dumbwaiter – delivers orders to servers downstairs.
Jonathan Reed, the company’s executive director of design, told Nation’s Restaurant News that this store can handle up to 3 times the volume of a normal Chick-fil-A and that drive-thru and digital channels make up a majority of Chick-fil-A’s sales.
“We are a business of seconds and inches,” Reed said. “People’s time is a commodity. The fact that they show up with their money, give us their time, give us their hard-earned resources, we never want to take that for granted.”
More innovation is in the works. QSR reported that the company plans to invest $1 billion through 2025 toward international expansion in Europe and Asia with the goal to be in five international market by 2030. Beside the U.S., it currently operates stores in Canada and Puerto Rico.
Becoming A Cultural Force
In some circles, Chick-fil-A is already a cultural force, but it aims to extend its cultural influence further. Company founder S. Truett Cathy’s decision to close his Georgia restaurant on Sundays wasn’t so unusual back in 1946, but to remain closed now 80 years later really sets the company apart.
Chick-fil-A has always been a purpose-led company that goes against the secular mainstream. “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A,” the website states.
To spread that positive influence beyond its stores, Deadline just reported that Chick-fil-A is “moving aggressively into the entertainment space” with plans to create family-friendly shows and content, aiming first with an unscripted series.
It has charged Brian Gibson, who produced History’s Top Gear and Fox’s The X Factor, with developing the new unscripted content and reportedly it is looking to acquire other content.
Chick-fil-A has already tested the waters in media in a series of short, animated kids teaching films entitled Stories of Evergreen Hills and launched into children’s puzzles and family games under the Pennycake brand. So its upcoming venture will follow suit.
Demand for more wholesome, uplifting and good-for-the-whole family content is on the rise. “Post-pandemic, the emphasis on positive storytelling is trending upwards, which in this era of streaming is finding a new window of opportunity,” wrote fellow Forbes.com senior contributor Marc Berman.
It’s a space that another household name, Hallmark Cards, has successfully leveraged into three cable networks – Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Mystery and Hallmark Family – as well as a subscription-based video streaming service, Hallmark Movies Now.
Whether Chick-fil-A can or even aspires to do the same is the question. Chick-fil-A did not answer a request for comment. However, it has always served its chicken sandwiches with a side-helping of warmth and neighborly friendliness.
That’s not such a far cry from Hallmark turning greeting cards into stories for TV viewing. Clearly Chick-fil-A sees a growing appetite for family-friendly content that needs filling.