Unknown: almost kind of a
little bit of a almost a lifestyle brand if you
will you come in into some experience. Are you worried about
what the chicken nuggets? yes, sometimes no I don't, but I highly doubt
it's top chicken pink slime reality TV
series happening in real time with real companies
in real dollars in real delicious food at stake it's two pieces of bread,
a piece of fried chicken, dill pickles and a squirt
of lamb. Who would have thought such a humble
sandwich could set up a bathroom floor in fast
food Chick fil A has long dominated the chicken
sandwich. This simple sandwich is part of what
propelled Chick fil A to its spot as the third
biggest fast food chain in the US despite being
closed on Sundays. Chick fil A is Race to the Top
as scared even McDonald's who's us franchisees
asked corporate to develop a worthy
competitor to Chick fil A sandwich in the summer of
2019. A formidable opponent to Chick fil A
emerged and it wasn't McDonald's. Popeye's
Louisiana kitchen introduced its crispy
chicken sandwich and conflict started to brew
at a sandwich challenge Chick fil A is dominant
in the chicken sandwich category and fast foods
biggest names got into the battle. Popeye sold
out of the chicken sandwich in about two
weeks. During that time. Analysts say other
chicken chains including Chick fil A lost
customers to Popeyes Americans are ordering
and eating more chicken now than ever before. In
a highly competitive industry like fast food
brands are racing to stake their claim. chains
that have long relied on chicken like Chick fil A
and Popeyes are in prime position for victory.
Others like hamburger focus McDonald's have
missed out on dollars spent by chicken hungry
fans. One thing is clear, fast food customers want
chicken sandwiches and the trend doesn't seem to
be slowing. Now the big chains are duking it out
to deliver despite supply chain issues and fierce
competition. Part of Chick Fil A's
brand messaging has been that it didn't invent the
chicken, just the chicken sandwich. But American
Studies professor psyche Williams Forsen says
people have been eating this type of sandwich as
long as they've been eating bread and poultry. There's evidence that
lots of early colonial households who could
afford the ingredients to make bread and would have
any kind of bird would eat bread and bird
together how they did that, you know it's not
necessarily known. And of course on through the
centuries, we end up with what we know to be the
sandwich and the chicken sandwich at that. And competition around
the chicken sandwich isn't exactly new either.
Ebony Magazine search black newspaper archives
and found ads for the chicken sandwich going
back to as early as 1936 Chick fil A is founder s
Truett. Cathy invented the chains original
chicken sandwich in 1964. That sandwich was made of
a boneless chicken breast breaded and fried and
peanut oil and served on a toasted buttered bun
with pickles. The first Chick fil A opened in
1967 and the chain has been closed on Sundays
since then. Despite that Chick fil A is the third
biggest restaurant chain in the US by system wide
sales and reported more than $10 billion in
revenue in 2018. For comparison, Popeyes
pulled in $3.7 billion in sales in 2018, making it
the 25th largest US chain. When Popeye's
parent company Restaurant Brands international
quietly discussed a new menu item and its May
2019. Investor day, it didn't know that the
products launch would cause such a frenzy. It
was the first time in its nearly 50 year history
that Popeyes offered a chicken sandwich that was
available nationwide. In the past its menu tended
to focus more on bone in products. This sandwich
is a white meat breast filet, Pan battered and
breaded in a buttermilk coating served on a
brioche bun. There's one version with regular
mayonnaise, and another was spicy male. Popeye is
rolled out its sandwich on August 12 2019. One
week later this sandwich set off a virtual
confrontation between some of the biggest names
in fast food Chick fil A tweeted an equation
suggesting that its sandwich was the original
and the best Popeye's had a simple but pointed
response to Chick fil A Y'all good? There check
in prompted other chicken brands to get into the
conversation. Soon Wendy's and Shake Shack
jumped into the Twitter feud to you this is what people
love to see they love to see kind of folks going
at it and and you know in a fun and competitive way
of course but this is the reality TV series
happening in real time with real companies in
real dollars in real delicious food at stake. Those tweets set
off a social media fire Storm and nearly doubled
Popeye's Twitter followers from 100,000 to
180,000. A marketing group estimated that
Popeyes received over $65.1 million in
equivalent advertising value from media mentions
between August 12 and August 27. The sandwiches
impact was bigger than just raising Popeye's
profile with consumers. It was also a boon to
Popeyes bottom line, thanks in part to the
chicken sandwich sale that stores opened more
than a year and grew by 9.7% in the third quarter
of 2019. Compared 2.5% growth in q3 of 2018. One
analyst estimated that Popeye sold about 1000
chicken sandwiches a day and that the sandwich
accounted for about 30% of sales. Well, it was
available at least. After about two weeks with the
chicken sandwich on the menu Popeye's around the
country started selling out. It simply ran out of
chicken filets. fans started posting pictures
of handwritten sold out signs and Popeye's doors
and drive thru menus. Popeyes was even hit with
a lawsuit by an angry customer for selling out
of the sandwich. It said that you saw pop
market share more than double and then you did
see a dip in foot traffic share at Chick fil A
McDonald's Burger King and Wendy's you know the
the actual infamous Y'all good tweet happened just
as Wendy's was launching their spicy chicken
sandwich and, and just as Burger King was launching
the impossible Whopper nationally so it sort of
took the steam out of those promotions for for
a few short days. But the positive impact
of Popeye sandwich wasn't limited to just that
change. The third quarter is the most important
part of the year for fast food companies because it
includes the summer months a crucial selling
season. It was very successful
third quarter for fast food in general. I think
it was probably the most the fastest sales growth
in several years, and the chicken sandwich has some
responsibility for that sector wide growth. hype
around Popeyes national release of its chicken
sandwich actually benefited its
competitors. Chicken focused fast food
restaurants like KFC and Chick fil A saw a traffic
spike in late August 2019. Over a typical
summer weekend. Popeyes Chick fil A Zach's B's
and KFC would get about 8.3 million visitors.
According to a foot traffic analytics
platform place their AI but at the peak of the
chicken sandwich for the chains had 10 point 1
million visitors over a weekend. And now Popeye's
has brought its sandwich back. It's nationwide
launch on November 3 2019 saw huge crowds traffic
at Popeye's that day rose almost 300% higher than
normal. One analyst estimated that busy
Popeyes locations sold up to 1500 chicken
sandwiches per store every day. For the first
10 days the sandwich was back, effectively
doubling sales volume at those stores and Popeyes
competitors are racing to keep up in July 2019.
McDonald's us franchisees asked the company to add
a southern style chicken sandwich to rival Chick
Fil A's. franchisees said McNuggets and MC chicken
sandwiches weren't enough to compete in the premium
chicken sandwich category. On an earnings
call. McDonald's said it missed out on some
business in chicken. In December 2019, McDonald's
started testing a crispy chicken sandwich
officially entering the chicken sandwich wars. Well, they said on their
conference call that they actually lost share
during in the chicken segment, that they gain
share of the burger segment. So clearly this
is a this is an issue for them that they're looking
to correct the franchisees have been
asking for a premium chicken sandwich for some
time, you know, the sandwich isn't likely to
be hand breaded the way hand battered and hand
breaded the way it is at Popeye's. So McDonald's
will have to find a way to win on on their core
advantages which is speed, convenience and
value. The war is far from over. And if
I were to make a longer term prediction, I would
not predict that Chick fil A would be a loser in
that chicken war overall, there's so much momentum
behind the growth of that company and so much brand
equity that just resonates with consumers
young, old and everywhere in between in a lot of
ways. For decades, hamburgers
have been American sandwich of choice on
fast food menus. Now chicken sandwiches are
stealing some of the spotlight. chicken
sandwiches remain number two, but they are gaining
ground with consumers faster than burgers are.
According to market research firm NPD Group
for the year ended February 2019 4 billion
chicken sandwich servings were ordered at US
restaurants. During the same time period. burgers
were more popular, with 8.6 billion ordered by
chicken sandwich orders were up 4% While burger
orders stayed flat. On average. Diners still
purchase burgers more frequently than they
purchase chicken sandwiches. But burger
makers shouldn't rest too easy. In general chicken
consumption is on the rise. From 1960 to 2018
per capita chicken consumption has risen
235% to 93.8 pounds a year. During the same
time period per capita consumption of beef has
is fallen 9.6% 1991 was the last year people ate
more beef than chicken. In 2018, Americans ate
about 94 pounds of chicken compared to 57
pounds of beef. Yeah, it's a pretty
dramatic difference in that, you know, and
that's a reversal from 4050 years ago if this
was not always the case, and it goes to show what
technological progress and changes and
consumption habits those combination of factors
can do to change our diets. Analysts point to three
main factors that have contributed to higher
chicken consumption, health concerns,
technological advances and a growing population.
The National Institutes of Health and the World
Health Organization have linked red meat
consumption to heart disease and cancer. Some
have pointed to white meat like chicken and
fish as a healthier alternative.
Technological advances have also made it
possible to produce larger chickens more
quickly, and the price of chicken has fallen in
recent years. If you look at what's
happened to the price of chicken relative to say
beef, it's fallen by about 45% Over the last
20 years. So today, chicken is about a third
of the price of beef at the retail level. A
similar thing has happened for pork. So
today, chicken is about half the price of pork. But in the chicken
sandwich war, not all chicken is created equal.
Some pieces are better for sandwiches than
others. Most fast food chains rely on breast
meat for its sandwiches, which is typically more
expensive and chicken wings or thighs. Fast
food restaurants have offered chicken items for
years. But analysts say this social media feud
attracted a new generation of consumers certainly the generation
that follows social media that might might go into
a fast casual restaurant you know maybe your
Chipotle consumer or your your Shake Shack consumer
doesn't really look to traditional fast food as
having a you know high quality up leveled
experience. And so by having a product that is
of that, you know that that rivals the the
Chicken Shack will bring in a generation that's
probably never eaten a Big Mac before. Burger orders may be
flat. But despite attracting a new
audience, analysts don't think chicken sandwiches
will pull ahead of burgers anytime soon. If you grew up in the
United States in the last 70 years, chances are
you've had a chicken nugget. Whether your
nuggets came in a McDonald's box or from
the freezer aisle, chicken nuggets have long
been a staple for American families. But
have you ever eaten one cooked from scratch at
home? We did an experiment inspired by
celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. If people saw how
chicken nuggets were made, would they still
want to eat them? Do you know what's in a chicken
nugget? No. Are you worried about what's in a
chicken nugget? Yes, I'm sometimes no I
don't. But I highly doubt it's top chicken. pink slime. No. That's
why I don't eat it very often because it's kind
of I don't think it's like mystery meat. I know. It's like just a
bunch of chicken cut up and different like maybe
bones are in there. We acknowledge the makeup of
chicken nuggets is questionable. The treats
history has been marred by bad press yet
Americans ate 2.3 billion servings of them in
restaurants last year. However, demand for
chicken nuggets at fast food outlets and
restaurants has stagnated. Experts say
that's because the chicken nugget isn't a
huge profit driver and restaurants aren't likely
to innovate around them. Restaurants only have so
much room on their menu and as a low cost item.
Nuggets aren't a big moneymaker. Customers
expect to be able to buy large quantities of
nuggets of super low prices, and the future
doesn't look better for chicken nuggets growth.
Their menu penetration is expected to drop by 5.4%
in the next four years. Over the past 10 years
nuggets have dropped off the kids menu by 10%
While chicken tenders have increased by 25%. So
why is demand for nuggets flatlining? First, we
have to understand what made them so popular in
the first place. Today we can't help but associate
Chicken Nuggets with McDonald's famous for
selling large McNugget portions at low prices.
credit for inventing chicken nuggets often
goes to the Golden Arches. But it turns out
you have a scientist to thank for your chicken
nugget creations. McDonald's introduced
chicken nuggets in 1983 years after a researcher
had laid the groundwork for them. In the 1950s, a
professor at Cornell University invented a
variety of processed chicken products,
including chicken hotdogs and chicken nuggets to
convince Americans to eat more chicken. His work
was for scientific research, not commercial
products, and he didn't expect chicken nuggets to
take off. When the chicken nugget came out
in the 1950s they weren't too popular. He said.
After World War Two processed foods were seen
as safer and more reliable. Food processing
methods were developed during the wars to make
sure soldiers on the frontlines were fed.
After the war companies had to find another
market for their new technology. attitude toward food
processing has changed dramatically in the past
3040 years. Maybe when it was first introduced,
people saw it as being sanitary because human
hands weren't, you know, touching the food. They
saw it as efficient because you could get
food directly from the field into a canned or
frozen. And that was supposedly, you know,
going to lock in the flavor in 1983 after the
government recommended people eat less red meat,
McDonald's introduced the battered and fried
chicken nugget. It's McNugget mania ad
campaign cast the nugget as a cheap delicious
snack to share your camera system. Moms love
kids brings it home. Chicken Nuggets became
popular because they were inexpensive, uniform and
easy to eat. Regardless of whether you're not
good comes from the driving or the frozen
section, you usually know what to expect. People
love to eat food with their hands a trend abala
calls negation negation also hides the origin of
the food. When you eat a chicken nugget, you
really don't know what it is. The fact that nuggets
don't look like an animal makes them more popular.
Most people don't want to be reminded that their
food is too new or o'clock. It's not for
ethical reasons or because people are eating
less meat. We're simply just squeamish.
McDonald's released its Nuggets with three
signature sauces, barbecued sweet, sour and
hot mustard. The Product Development Director
thought variety of dipping flavors we make
big nuggets more appealing to customers.
They were right. Customers love Naga ties
easily Dibble foods because sauce adds
another layer of customization to your
order. We've been eating chicken nuggets for
years, but three main factors are working
against them. health concerns, bad press and
new competition. consumer attitudes about health
are changing. process foods are falling out of
favor as consumers look for more natural
alternatives. Very broadly across all
consumers is a what we call the pursuit of
purity in our food, which is to say you're looking
for food that's real food, it's authentic food
that's minimally processed. In 2010 reports of
chicken nuggets made from Pink goop swept to the
internet, a photo rumored to have been taken inside
a plant making food for McDonald's surfaced, and
people said it should mechanically separated
chicken, a product made by forcing bones with
adipose tissue attached through a seed. Edible
tissue includes whatever's left on the
bone, including blood vessels, cartilage and
skin. And McDonald's said the photo doesn't show
how it makes nuggets. Due to changing consumer
preferences. It's switched to using 100%
white meat in nuggets in 2003. While McDonald's
promises to use 100% white meat, it doesn't
state what percentage of the nugget is meat. In
response to the pink goop photo. McDonald's
released a video from a McNuggets supplier in
Canada. The video shows employees making a paste
from chicken breast and skin that will become
nuggets. McDonald's didn't respond to
requests to comment for this video. But their
earnings call show consumers like the switch
to white meat. There isn't much regulation
about what can and cannot be in a nugget. Go to any
frozen food aisle and you'll find gluten free
chicken nuggets, breast meat chicken nuggets, and
even veggie nuggets. Here's how the US
Department of Agriculture to find nuggets. Nuggets
are irregularly shaped, usually bite sized meat
and or poultry products, which are usually breaded
and deep fat fried and intended to be used as
finger foods. There are three types solid meat
nuggets, ground meat nuggets, and nuggets me
from ground meat with additives. The labeling
rules are different for all three but one rule is
constant. Any breaded nugget product can be no
more than 30% breading nuggets made from solid
pieces of meat can be labeled simply as
nuggets. The process to make nuggets that are
ground meat, like what we made earlier, must be
clear on the packaging. For instance, chicken
nugget, chopped and formed. Nuggets made from
ground meat with additives like binders or
water can be used to describe a product but
needs more detail. The USDA says breaded nugget
shaped chicken patties is proper labeling. The US
US labeling guidelines don't specify just how
much meat a nugget must contain. In 2013,
researchers from the University of Mississippi
studied the composition of two nuggets, and found
that the nuggets contained more fat than
meat. The researchers got the nuggets from two
national food chains but didn't identify which
it's also worth noting that two nuggets is a
very small sample size. The bad press for nuggets
didn't end with this study, or with reports of
pink goo. A federal judge called McNuggets a MC
Frankenstein creation in 2003 after a group of
teens claimed McDonald's food was making them
obese. Earlier this year, some of the country's
biggest producers recalled over 120,000
pounds of chicken nuggets, consumers found
bits of plastic or wood in the nuggets or notice
that they were labeled incorrectly. And finally
there's another chicken product kids love chicken
strips. Well data found that chicken nuggets
servings in restaurants were slumping slightly
servings of chicken strips were actually on
the rise in 2018 when compared to 2017.
Researchers say consumers aren't swapping nuggets
for strips, but that the categories appeal to
different groups. families with young
children are more likely to purchase nuggets,
while adults or families with teens buy more
strips. Strips are seen as an upgraded or more
wholesome version of chicken nuggets. There's nothing new or
innovative about a chicken strip. It's been
around for a long time. But anytime you take
something that the American consumer already
loves, and you innovate around it, or you elevate
the form in some way, it creates opportunities for
growth. So we've seen a lot of people doing this
everybody from the world's largest
restaurant chain McDonald's has a premium
chicken strip offering now to regional chains
that are springing up like raising canes, or
Zach's B's tempting consumers to buy
a more premium product like a strip means a
higher margin for restaurants. The chicken nuggets sort of have
their their home in fast food. And as parents,
more educated about, you know, better quality
proteins. And they're trading a board of fast
casual restaurants, that you're seeing more of a
tendency for people to move to chicken strips,
chicken tenders, which is something that kids
really like and honestly, you know, people of all
generations kind of like chicken strips. A low birth rate could
also have something to do with nuggets stagnation.
In 2017, the US birthrate hit a 30 year low,
Americans aren't having enough babies to replace
the population, and population growth
increasingly relies on immigration. Data shows
that chickens strips show up on restaurant menus
more often than chicken nuggets do with a higher
menu penetration of 14.2% However, over time,
chicken strip menu penetration has also
declined and at a faster rate than nuggets, which
begs the question are consumers over them both?
Are chicken strips really a threat to chicken
nuggets plays at the top of the processed meat
food chain. Even though strips are gaining
traction, there's no reason that gets in
strips can't thrive together. At restaurants
Americans still ate a whopping 2.3 billion
nuggets last year compared to 1.5 billion
strips. So don't worry nugget lovers, there will
still be nuggets to dip Chick fil A it's a fast
food chain with chicken sandwiches said to be so
good even McDonald's wants to steal them. And
it has a reputation so controversial. Entire
cities have banned the restaurant from their
airports. Critics say Chick fil A has a history
of supporting and donating millions of
dollars to anti LGBTQ organizations, which has
drawn the ire of lawmakers and civilians
alike. Chick Fil A's values are
not Chicago values, but it also has its share
of ardent supporters. Whatever you think of the
company's politics, Chick Fil A's sales are on a
tear as of June 2019. It is the third biggest
restaurant chain in the US by system wide sales,
and it generates the most sales per store of any
fast food restaurant in the country. The Ascent
is so rapid that even McDonald's and Popeye's
are taking note in July 2019. McDonald's
franchise owners demanded the company add a
southern style chicken sandwich to its menu in
order to keep pace with Chick fil A. A month
later, Popeyes debuted its own chicken sandwich
on a buttered roll with pickles, the first to be
sold by the chain nationwide. Chick fil A
is also eating market share from giants in the
chicken category like KFC and Wingstop. So how is
it that a restaurant that's ensnared in
controversy and closed on Sundays is next in line
to overtake Starbucks and McDonald's? It all started in
Atlanta, Georgia, where Chick fil A is founder as
true at Kathy was raised and where the company is
now headquartered. Kathy grew up watching his
mother prepared chicken in traditional Southern
fashion. In 1926, the 25 year old and his younger
brother cobbled together about $10,000 to open a
diner called dwarf grill. Legend has it that's
where Cathy invented Chick Fil A's original
chicken sandwich, fried in peanut oil and served
on a bun with pickles. The menu item regularly
sold out. So in 1967, he opened the very first
Chick fil A in the Greenbrier mall in
Atlanta. From the outset, Cathy implemented a
policy still in place to this day, all stores
would be closed on Sundays. A devout
Christian, he reasoned that Sunday's were for
spiritual worship. Kathy carried those Christian
values with him to Chick Fil A's flagship store,
which featured an upbeat logo of a bright red
chicken. Kathy said the a of the company's name
represented grade a chicken. He was one of
the first to envision putting fast food in
malls, and as malls began to grow in popularity.
Chick fil A was taken along for the ride
between 1971 in 1974 Chick fil A tripled in
size, expanding into the rest of Georgia and the
Carolinas and continuing through the south and
southwest. In 1986. Chick fil A decided to grow
beyond malls by opening its first freestanding
restaurant. By 1993. It's 500 restaurant had
opened, but this pushed it into competition with
established chicken focused fast food chains
like KFC, which also opened in the South 15
years before Chick fil A Chick fil A didn't have
as much money as those companies to spend on
advertising. So it decided to make a splash
another way. In 1995. It put up huge billboards on
the side of highways in the south east. The first
billboard featured a pair of cows scrawling Eat
more chicken to try to get people to stop eating
beef. The campaign went viral, and it worked. In
2000, the privately held company hit $1 billion in
sales, doubling its performance from when the
billboards first debuted. It also rose to the third
largest fast food chain in the chicken category
behind KFC and Popeye's. That was also the year
Cathy and his three children signed a
covenant promising to uphold Chick Fil A's
principles. The agreement included staying closed
on Sundays and never taking the company
public. You know, the company
culture is very unique and has clearly led to a
lot of success and culture. It's all
interlocked, like you pull one strand of it and
the whole blanket can unravel. And sometimes,
if a company is public, someone might want to
pull a strand and might not realize wow, that's
the strand that could unravel the whole blanket
here. Chick fil A is fast paced
growth was also fueled by a few key innovations in
its operating structure. Each franchise is owned
by an independent operator who usually has
just one unit and no other business ventures,
a model that's still relatively unique in the
fast food business. This allowed franchise owners
to be focused on the restaurant and truly
connected to the community. Employee
makeup is another differentiator for the
brand. Chick fil A has said that two thirds of
Chick fil A employees have grown up working for
the company doing shifts in high school and
college and ultimately returning for a career
with Chick fil A after graduating. Chick fil A
is extremely selective of who is even allowed to
become an operator. That structure has created a
network of experienced franchise owners who were
loyal to the brand. If the main reason why
they're successful because they have these
people that are in the stores every single day.
They've gone through a heavy training process.
They believe very strongly in the brand and
they are interacting with customers so they are
interacting with the employee. They are
interacting with everybody and it really
works. The franchise agreement
also allows operators to start restaurants for an
extremely low cost. The initial fee is just
$10,000. In comparison, the fee at McDonald's is
$45,000 and Wendy's is $40,000. unburdened by
the debt of a large initial feat. Chick fil A
franchisee operators are able to put more of their
funds into growing and improving their store.
The closed on Sunday policy also applies to
the Chick Fil A's operating in stadiums,
it's Mercedes Benz location even remained
closed when the Super Bowl was held there in
2019. Analysts say the policy comes with a hefty
price tag. If you do the math, I
think it works out to roughly $1.7 billion in
system wide sales that are lost by being closed
on Sundays. Now again, that's assuming you just
opened up on Sundays and everything else works
normally. But they also say being
closed might actually help the chain provide
better service. Every employee can look
forward to time off no matter how hard they're
working Monday through Saturday, and sometimes
that rest and relaxation can do a person Real
good. On top of that, you know, the guests like,
they better get to the Chick fil A restaurant
before Sunday comes because if they find the
time on Sunday and they have that craving on
Sunday and they show up on Sunday, we're not
getting any food from that Chick fil A
restaurant in 2018. There were 2352
Chick Fil A's in business with 234 in malls 264 on
college campuses, and 73 at hospitals, businesses
or airports. The culture of Chick fil A today
still focuses on the Christian values that
Kathy founded the chain on. outside its Atlanta
headquarters. A plaque with Chick Fil A's
mission statement still hangs. Analysts point to
the chains religious backbone as a driving
force behind the company's number one rank
and customer service for four years from 2015 to
2019. In a 2018 survey of drive throughs Chick fil
A employees were reported to have smiled 91.4% of
the time, while employees of the next highest
chain, KFC smiled 78.5% of the time. Basically, you're
starting to see that they're almost kind of a
little bit of a almost a lifestyle brand if you
will you come in and see experience from the
minute you walk in and you're you've got that
that fresh faced kid who's you know, greets
you thank you, you know, they're polite, they're
walking around helping you accelerates beyond
just a transaction of food, this entire
experience and I think you're starting to see
some of the you know, the bigger brands really
trying, trying, you know, as much as they can to
mimic that and trying to give you an experience.
Chick Fil A's Christian values have
also been a source of major controversy in
recent years. In July 2012 Chick fil A came
under fire after Truett Cathy sun and the
company's current president Dan Cathy
publicly expressed his views on gay marriage. He
told the Baptist press that he was guilty of
supporting the biblical definition of a family
unit. The comments incited backlash in the
form of boycotts and LGBT kitchens at Chick fil A
restaurants around the country. According to a
brand satisfaction measurement from YouGov.
The company's rating dropped to its lowest
level in two years following the comments.
The day of Dan Cathy's first comments Chick Fil
A's rating was 6519 points above average, but
four days later, the chain had fallen to 47.
Even though the comments hurt the brand's
reputation the company's annual sales improved in
2012. The company saw $4 billion in system wide
sales a 13% increase from the $3.6 billion a year
earlier, but also grew 7.4% in average sales per
unit. Dan Cathy said in 2014 that he regretted
publicly commenting on gay marriage and that he
would stay out of political debates. But in
2017 reports revealed the Chick fil A foundation
had donated millions to what critics say our anti
LGBT groups such as donations to the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a sports
ministry that believes homosexual misconduct is
unnatural in the eyes of God. Again, sales
remained unharmed. Chick fil A pulled in $8
billion in system wide sales in 2017. Up 15%
from the previous year, and the company has still
not redeemed itself among LGBT supporters. During
the 2019 Pride Parade in New York City attendees a
taped a large x over one of Chick Fil A's
storefronts between 2017 and 2018. system wide
sales improved 12.8% from $8 billion to $9 billion.
Its sales per store is higher than any other
fast food chain at $4 million. McDonald's
generates $2.7 million a unit and in 2019, it
became the third largest restaurant chain in
America by system wide sales. It surged past
Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell and subway in
just one year. Since 2007. Chick fil A has
doubled its number of stores to 2400
restaurants, the majority of its restaurants are
still in the south and southwest. Texas, for
example, tops the chart with 391 restaurants
while Georgia has 218. From its history of store
openings, however, it seems the company is
slowly working to expand its foothold and other
regions between 2011 in 2018. For example, the
company grew from having one location in New York
to having 1725 years ago, this was a regional
concept that was much smaller. And today you
know, depending on what source you use it very
much is the third biggest restaurant concept in the
whole country. And they're still under
penetrated some of those heavily populated parts
of the country. They will open on Sundays at all.
So They're a big player. The chain is also a
growing threat to other fast food chains.
technomic estimates that Chick fil A tallied over
$10 billion in revenue in 2018 and grew 13.5% While
McDonald's grew just 2.5%. In July of 2019, a
group of McDonald's franchise owners signed a
joint letter asking the company to add a southern
style chicken sandwich to its menu. Chick Fil A's
results demonstrate the power of chicken the
board wrote a chicken sandwich at McDonald's
should be our top priority. The company is
an especially big threat to other chicken focused
restaurants between 2009 and 2018. Chick fil A
grew from owning 19.3% of the chicken fast food
market to 38.5%. Their chicken menu
doesn't change we are experts in chicken, we
you know will occasionally give you
something additional spicy chicken or like I
said fish or whatever it is. But it I think by
being maniacally focused on what they do, it
allows them to then be focused on all those
extras you know the service the atmosphere,
you know, they're not always searching for
what's that next big LTO the just the energy of
their brand. And what they do day to day is
just once again growing their brand from from the
perspective of excellence. So is there a ceiling for
Chick fil A Truett Cathy passed away in 2014,
leaving his three children to inherit the
company and the $11 billion family fortune.
Dan Cathy is now the company's chairman and
CEO, while his brother Baba is an executive vice
president of the private company declined to
comment for this piece and is secretive about
its financial information and goals. But analysts
say that if Chick fil A manages to maintain its
growth, there are major regions that the chain
has yet to take over. Chick fil A plans to open
its first international location in 2019 in
Toronto, and plans to open at least 15 more
locations in Canada. Looking ahead, they just
need to make sure that they have the the
management infrastructure because you know, as any
company gets bigger and bigger just becomes that
much more challenging to make sure that the
quality of what you do remains. So if I had to
guess, will they achieve that? Yes, but there's no
100% certainty in the future. And I'm sure
they're aware of that and trying to work as hard as
they can to make sure that the odds of success
for them are as high as they can be.
Mainly focused on the rise of Chick-fil-A. Pretty interesting montage of videos on the subject from 2019.