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Chick-fil-A, the chain known for waffle fries and legendary chicken sandwich, has dethroned the long-held king of greasy goodness (McDonald’s) to become the top-selling restaurant chain in the U.S. according to Technomic.com.
With over 3,000 chains throughout the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico; Chick-Fil-A has beat out all other chicken-centric chains to become the largest of its kind while now also the third largest chain overall in the US.
The chain is giving giants like McDonald’s a run for their money. Literally. According to Restaurant Business Online, Chick-fil-A’s free-standing restaurants rake in a whopping $9 million a year on average compared to McDonald’s $4 million average. That’s double the average haul of other fast-food joints. Even including mall locations, Chick-fil-A still pulls in a mighty $7.5 million per year.
But what’s the real secret ingredient to their skyrocketing sales? Technomic reveals some more interesting data. Chick-fil-A generated a cool $21.6 billion in sales in 2023, a whopping 14.7% increase from the previous year. This nearly doubles their total sales volume since 2018. Even their closest competitors, Popeyes and KFC, pale in comparison with their respective growth of just over 10% and 1.7%.
Another area that Chick-Fil-a shines in? Customer satisfaction. The chain is routinely voted to be the best fast food chain in the US in various studies, and polls. And has been for the past few years.
But everything isn’t all peaches and cream, Chick-Fil-A came under fire in 2023 for comments made by founder Dan Cathy in regards to homosexuality, and donations he made to anti-LGBTQ organizations. Then things really popped off when the chain was declared to be too woke by conservatives after putting new initiatives in place surrounding diversity and inclusion in the work place. Like Bud Light, the call for boycotts have been shouted far and wide ever since…but the surprising part is that it hasn’t tampered with their sales according to the sales data.
Can Chick-Fil-A eventually take down McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Subway in terms of ubiquity? They’re definitely making moves to do it – by 2025 the chain will be moving into the UK for the first time with more plans for expansion. At this point anything can happen…
