Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (2024)

For the seventh year in a row, Chick-fil-A continues to be America’s favorite fast-food chain. The fast-food chain topped the industry with an ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) score of 83/100. Chick-fil-A also outscored the top full-service restaurant, LongHorn Steakhouse, thereby raising the bar pretty high.

Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (1)

In the graph above, you can see how Chick-fil-A beats giants like McDonald’s and Starbucks, to name a few. The ACSI score takes several indicators like order accuracy, food quality, speed of service and mobile app reliability, etc., to evaluate the performance of these restaurant chains.

So, what sets Chick-fil-A apart from others? Let’s find out.

Key Insights

  • Chick-fil-A has 2,774 store locations in the USA.
  • The company’s annual sales grew by more than four times in the pandemic.
  • Most of the menu items at Chick-fil-A are priced at less than $3.

Instantly download Chick-fil-A retail store location data and more from our Data Store.

Story of Chick-fil-A’s Consecutive Success

Locations

Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (2)

Headquartered in Georgia, Chick-fil-A only has 2,774 store locations across the United States. This number is much smaller compared to the number of store locations of restaurant giants like Subway, McDonald’s, etc. To put in perspective, Chick-fil-A contributes to just 2.4% of the 118,177 limited-service restaurants we analyzed in total.

Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (3)

Texas is home to the highest number of Chick-fil-A locations. California, despite being the largest state, comes fifth. On the other hand, Atlanta, Hawaii & Vermont do not have any Chick-fil-A stores.

Revenue

Despite having a lower number of stores, Chick-fil-A competes with the largest restaurant chains in the USA, ranking third after McDonald’s and Starbucks in terms of sales.

Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (4)

Chick-fil-A’s sales have been on the rise since 2009 and grew by over four times in the pandemic. Interestingly, the company jumped from annual revenue of $3.2 billion in 2009 to $13.7 billion in 2020.

Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (5)

Chick-fil-A’s success could be attributed to multiple factors:

Redefined Restaurant Experience

Although the pandemic has abruptly forced the global shutdown of restaurant chains across the US, Chick-fil-A was quick to respond. The company efficiently transitioned to drive-thru services during the pandemic. The benefit was two-fold. Not only did it boost their sales, but it also ensured consumer safety.
Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (6)

The chart above compares multiple popular restaurant chains in terms of the drive-thru experience offered to consumers. Chick-fil-A tops all the fields except menu item availability, possibly owing to the brand’s single-minded focus on chicken-based items. That said, it lags in the average speed of service. Their stores take about 541 seconds to deliver orders at drive-thrus.

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Efficient In-Home Food Delivery Service

In one of its major moves, Chick-fil-A strengthened its partnerships with delivery partners like UberEats, DoorDash, and Grubhub amidst the pandemic. For example, look at the distribution of consumer ratings for Chick-fil-A’s home delivery service below.

It is remarkable how nearly 100% of Chick-fil-A locations are rated 4/5 on DoorDash. Similarly, on UberEats, most ratings are over 4.6/5. The company’s focus on customer satisfaction has taken its brand reputation up a notch in the pandemic.

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You might also find this interesting: Online Food Delivery Market: The Rapid Growth of Grubhub in the US

Strategic Pricing

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From breakfast meals to beverages, Chick-fil-A offers diverse menu choices. While many of its competitors expanded their product lines and sacrificed quality for speed, Chick-fil-A remained true to its core ideas. Instead, it prioritized offering healthy, convenient meal options that drastically increased the brand’s reputation amongst fast-food chains.

What’s more? Nearly 66.7% of all the items on Chick-fil-A’s menu are priced below $5 and 41% less than $3. Take a look at the company’s pricing strategy below:

Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (10)

Social Media Presence

Chick-fil-A has built a strong brand presence on social media with over 10.7 M followers across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It effectively utilizes networking platforms to stay connected with its consumer base.

Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (11)

Chick-fil-A ensures that its consumers have a great offline and online experience. The company’s customer-centric approach and clever advertising have played a key role in driving engagement.

In A Nutshell

Chick-fil-A’s attention to ensuring overall customer satisfaction has pushed the company on the road to success. Although the pandemic has altered how the restaurant industry works, the dine-in experience still reigns. As the post-pandemic world recuperates, retail store location data analysis can prove helpful in getting started with location strategy.

You can easily download ready-to-use retail store location datasets from the ScrapeHero Data Store. Our data store provides weekly updated data on millions of POIs across multiple countries and thousands of brands. If you need any custom datasets, fill out the form below, and our team will contact you at the earliest.

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Chick-fil-A: America's Favorite Fast-Food Chain (2024)

FAQs

Is Chick-fil-A America's favorite fast-food? ›

The survey found that America's favorite fast-food chain is Chick-fil-A, which had a satisfaction score of 85, a 2% improvement over last year.

Is Chick-fil-A named America's favorite restaurant chain again? ›

(WFLA) — For the eighth straight year, the popular fast-food chain Chick-fil-A was ranked as America's favorite restaurant, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The index, which ranks customer satisfaction of full-service restaurants on a scale of 0-100, scored the chicken chain at 83.

What is the famous saying at Chick-fil-A? ›

Over the years, “my pleasure” has become much more than a phrase – it embodies Chick-fil-A's commitment of creating remarkable experiences, one interaction at a time.

What is the #1 fast-food chain in America? ›

What is the number one fast food chain the US? McDonalds is the number one fast food chain in the US. McDonald's is the number one restaurant chain in America based on both sales and number of locations, and it has over 36,000 restaurants in over 100 different countries.

Where does Chick-fil-A rank in the US largest fast-food chains? ›

The impressive growth over the years in the business, and that too, in such a short period, has helped Chick-fil-A get regarded as the 3rd largest fast-food chain in America.

Who is Chick-fil-A's biggest competitor? ›

Indeed, Kalinowski Equity Research noted all the way back in 2018 that Chick-fil-A's biggest competitor is McDonald's and it's no wonder why the Golden Arches and seemingly every other QSR concept (and beyond) have since ignited a chicken sandwich war replicating the Atlanta-based chain's signature product.

What is Chick-fil-A old name? ›

Hapeville Dwarf House

Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant in 1946, The Dwarf Grill – later renamed the Dwarf House – in Hapeville, Georgia, and developed the pressure-cooked chicken breast sandwich there.

What does fil a stand for in Chick-fil-A? ›

“Chick” to represent our juicy chicken, and “fil-A” as a play on the word “filet” – with a small twist. He replaced “et” with “A” to represent the “Grade-A” quality of our chicken. While some aspects of our restaurants have changed over the years, that commitment to quality has never wavered.

What family owns Chick-fil-A? ›

2024 America's Richest Families Net Worth

Brothers Dan and Bubba Cathy, and sister Trudy Cathy White, own fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, founded by their father S.

What is Chick-fil-A's motto? ›

What is Chick-fil-A's slogan? In 1995, a pair of rebel cows first painted the words “Eat Mor Chikin” on an Atlanta, Georgia, billboard. Since then, the boisterous bovines have found creative ways to use the slogan to encourage humans to eat chicken (and not beef).

What do Chick-fil-A workers say? ›

Have you ever wondered why the folks at Chick-fil-A say "my pleasure" instead of "you're welcome" or "no problem?" Two decades ago, Chick-fil-A borrowed a tactic from The Ritz-Carlton that would become a central element of its brand culture: Although it's a small gesture, the polite response fits into Chick-fil-A's ...

Who makes more money, Chick-fil-A or McDonald's? ›

The brand generated nearly $19 billion in systemwide sales. Chick-fil-A generated $18.814 billion in U.S. sales across 2022, a figure that trailed only McDonald's ($48.7 billion) and Starbucks ($28.1 billion) and illustrated what's been one of the industry's fastest climbs.

What is the richest fast food chain? ›

McDonald's was the most valuable fast food brand in the world with an estimated brand value of about 191 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. That same year, the brand value of Starbucks amounted to approximately 61.5 billion U.S. dollars.

What is more popular Chick-fil-A or McDonald's? ›

Chick-fil-A is the third-largest restaurant chain in the U.S. by sales — and the company that everyone in the restaurant industry is looking to beat. Even McDonald's, which outstrips Chick-fil-A by sales and footprint, is leaning into chicken to drive growth.

Is Chick-fil-A more popular than KFC? ›

Chick-fil-A's brand is ranked #3 in the list of Global Top 100 Brands, as rated by customers of Chick-fil-A. KFC's brand is ranked #130 in the list of Global Top 1000 Brands, as rated by customers of KFC.

What made Chick-fil-A so popular? ›

While many fast food chains offer many dishes, Chick-fil-A's is focused on selling chicken sandwiches. The name's capital A is intended to indicate that their chicken is "grade A top quality". The company's emphasis on customer service is reported to have contributed to its success and growth in the United States.

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