Chick-fil-A rises in chain rankings
Company trails only McDonald’s, Starbucks, report says
Through the diligent efforts of those billboard cows with their poor penmanship and dubious spelling skills, Chick-fil-A has moved up the ranks from the seventhlargest restaurant chain in the United States to the thirdlargest.
The chicken sandwich giant blew past Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and Subway on its ascent, with $10.46 billion in American store sales, according to Nation’s Restaurant News’ latest count. Up 17% for the year, Chick-fil-A stands behind only McDonald’s ($38.52 billion in American sales) and Starbucks ($20.49 billion).
Average sales for a Chickfil-A location were $4.6 million in 2018, up from $4.2 million in 2017 — more than three times that of chicken competitor KFC.
David Portalatin, food-industry expert for Chicagobased market research firm NPD Group, said Chick-fil-A’s ascent is more noticeable because everyone else is treading water.
“The industry as a whole is very flat,” he says. “It’s all about demographics, where our population is shifting, from a life-stage perspective. Where total restaurant traffic increased less than 1%, Chick-fil-A saw double-digit growth.”
Aging baby boomers are going to eateries less often, and while surveys say millennials rely on restaurants more than any other group, they are still eating at those establishments less than Generation X did at their age.
The company is not without challenges, such as its faith-based decision to remain closed on Sundays (a problematic issue for locations in airports and sports stadiums) and its management’s statements in opposition to same-sex marriage, which prompted boycotts and “kiss-ins” organized by GLAAD, a group promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. But the American Customer Satisfaction Index has rated Chick-filA the No. 1 company for the past four years.
For each of the nearly 100 new franchises opened each year since 2003, the parking lot fills up with tents and there’s a sanctioned overnight “First 100 Campout” that rewards the first 100 customers through the door the next morning with Chick-fil-A for a year (technically, each customer gets a card loaded with 52 No. 1 meals, which is a chicken sandwich, medium waffle fries and a medium beverage).
Portalatin said industry experts agree that the biggest distinguishing feature for Chick-fil-A is the customer experience.
“The level of customer satisfaction is highly differentiated from many of their fastfood peers,” Portalatin said.
Chick-fil-A has earned praise for its customer service, prompting memes enumerating real and imagined over-the-top polite employee interactions.
Global restaurant consultant Aaron Allen said some of the positive customer-service experience can be linked to an embrace of technology. In 2016, the chain debuted what it called Mom’s Valet (which let parents order at the drive-thru, then go inside where a Chick-fil-A employee would have a table ready). More recently, the company launched a successful app, and it is routine for employees to walk the drive-thru line taking tablet orders to expedite.
Allen said he thinks that some of the brand’s success is about how it has grown.
“There are a couple of paths to growth,” he said. “You can cherry-pick markets like Shake Shack. Or you can grow in concentric circles like Chick-fil-A. Then you’re gaining economies of scale in terms of marketshare saturation, and your supply chain can grow with you.”
While he thinks the company has grown at a sustainable, measured pace, Allen said he sees substantial prospects in Chick-fil-A’s future. The company opened its first New York City restaurant in 2015 and has rapidly expanded there. Plus, international markets have been eager to acquire the brand.
“Half of all meals are now eaten in restaurants, half of those as fast food, and half of those are just 10 companies. Chick-fil-A is now one of them,” Allen said.