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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.
“Our belief is, as we add value to their experience, then we’re giving them a reason to want to enjoy more Chick-fil-A with us,” he added.
A preview of the app viewed by CNBC included the first 22-minute episode of “Legends of Evergreen Hills,” which continues protagonist Sam’s adventures in the fantasy world of Evergreen Hills; the first installment of “Hidden Island,” a scripted podcast about a family that shipwrecks on a deserted island; and a step-by-step cooking tutorial that uses a Chick-fil-A milkshake as a key ingredient.
Customers can pre-download the free Chick-fil-A Play app for their iPhones, iPads and Android devices ahead of the launch next month.
Chick-fil-A decided to create the app following years of discussions with customers and as consumer behavior shifts away from prolonged visits to its restaurants.
While many of Chick-fil-A’s customers still enjoy its in-restaurant playgrounds, more of its customers are now using its drive-thru lanes and ordering delivery, according to Khalilah Cooper, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of brand strategy, advertising and media. Rival McDonald’s has slowly been erasing its PlayPlaces, a change likely resulting from fewer children using the playgrounds, concerns about health and safety, and a shift away from marketing to children.
“We’re looking at this app as a way to have a digital playground for the entire family to enjoy, whether they’re in our restaurants, in the drive-thru, driving to soccer practice or even relaxing at home,” Cooper told CNBC. “We want it to be an extension of our in-restaurant signature hospitality and generosity.”
The content on the app focuses on themes like generosity, friendship, problem-solving, creativity and entrepreneurship, according to Cooper. Chick-fil-A designed the app’s content to appeal to children 12 years old and under and their parents.
After the initial launch, new episodes of “Legends of Evergreen Hills” will release weekly through the holidays; “Hidden Island” will follow a similar drop schedule. Next year, the Play app will launch “Ice Lions,” another scripted audio series based on the true story of Kenyan teenagers who want to form the country’s first ice hockey team.
Most of the content that will be available on the app was created with outside partners led by Chick-fil-A’s internal team, but some of it was licensed. The company didn’t disclose the names of its external partners.
“We’re constantly thinking about what additional elements we can add into the app over time,” Cooper said.
In August, media publication Deadline reported that Chick-fil-A has been working with outside production companies for content, including unscripted shows, like a family-friendly game show.
“I’ll say that we’re exploring a variety of different types of content, and everything right now is a potential opportunity for us. We’re going to keep learning and exploring and figuring out what things work,” Britt said.
As legacy media players like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have found out, making content is expensive and attracting viewers is difficult, given the glut of available options on streaming services.
For brands like Chick-fil-A, the calculus is a bit different. Rather than using content to make money from subscriptions or advertisements, they’re looking to sell more of their own products. That’s been the case since Procter & Gamble first sponsored daytime radio shows to sell its soap — creating the soap opera.
“There’s a lot of content creation that happens from media houses for brands, and I think that brands want to tap into that because it feels more authentic. It feels more like content and not an ad,” said Stephani Estes, chief media officer for Goodway Group, a digital marketing agency.
More recent entrants include Starbucks, which announced this summer that it will create original content through a partnership with Sugar23. And in January, Chuck E. Cheese said it’s working with “Top Chef” producer Magical Elves to create its own game show.
“I think the biggest question I would have, as a marketing professional, is what is the business problem that you’re trying to solve? And is the dollar invested in that content creation or particular initiative going to pay out more than spending that dollar somewhere else in the marketing funnel?” Estes said.
For Chick-fil-A, the branded content gives it a way to connect with kids — without the same stink as advertising directly to them — and foster goodwill toward the brand from their parents.
And unlike Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, Chick-fil-A has some flexibility to figure out if the investment is working. As a family-owned company, it isn’t beholden to shareholders who might push back against an expensive marketing endeavor.
Chick-fil-A also has cash to burn, especially given its meteoric growth over the last decade. From 2018 to 2023, its systemwide sales nearly doubled. Last year, it raked in net earnings of $1.07 billion. Chair Dan Cathy, who served as CEO from 2013 to 2021 and is father to current CEO Andrew Cathy, has a net worth of $10.6 billion, according to Forbes estimates.
Coincidentally, Dan Cathy owns Atlanta-based Trilith Studios, whose stages have acted as sets for many Marvel movies and TV shows, plus Francis Ford Coppola’s 2024 mega-flop “Megalopolis.” Tax breaks and cheap labor have helped Atlanta become the “Hollywood of the South” over the last decade. Cathy has previously drawn criticism for remarks he made in 2012 opposing same-sex marriage, and the company’s foundation donated to anti-LGBTQ groups during his time as chief executive.
Dan Cathy was not directly involved in the development of the Play app or making decisions related to the content, according to Cooper. Chick-fil-A also hasn’t worked with his studio — yet.
“We’ve not currently done any work directly with Trilith to date, but that’s something that we continue to explore, where it makes the most sense for both our businesses and brands,” she said.