Chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, milkshakes — and now TV shows and podcasts?
Chick-fil-A plans to launch a new app on Nov. 18, with a slate of original animated shows, scripted podcasts, games, recipes and e-books aimed at families.
While it’s an unusual move for a restaurant company to wade into the crowded media world, Chick-fil-A has been expanding outside of food for years already — with the ultimate goal of directing more people to its over 3,000 restaurants. Since 2019, Chick-fil-A has held the spot of the third-biggest U.S. restaurant chain by sales, trailing only Starbucks and McDonald’s, with many fewer locations than either. Last year, its revenue reached $7.89 billion, according to franchisee disclosure documents.
As it tries to drive more restaurant sales, the company has sold branded merchandise, like a sleeping bag that resembles its chicken sandwich’s packaging, and created a spinoff brand called Pennycake, which offers family-friendly games and puzzles. And for the last five years, it’s released animated shorts on YouTube during the holiday season as part of its “Stories of Evergreen Hills” series.
“We’ve been paying attention to some research and conversations we’ve had with families that are our customers, and insights bubbled up that content and games are both adjacent to mealtime,” said Dustin Britt, Chick-fil-A’s executive director of brand strategy, entertainment and media.