Chick-Fil-A Releasing Entertainment App, To Feature Family-Friendly Shows, Podcasts
The app, which will launch November 18, represents a significant expansion for the fast-food giant.
Chick-fil-A is set to launch an innovative app next month that will feature a diverse array of original content, including animated series, scripted podcasts, interactive games, recipes, and e-books, all designed for families.
The app, which will launch November 18, represents a significant expansion for the fast-food giant, which has been exploring avenues beyond its traditional food offerings to attract more customers to its 3,000-plus restaurants.
“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,” Chick-fil-A’s executive director of brand strategy, entertainment, and media, Dustin Britt, said, according to CNBC.
Since 2019, Chick-fil-A has ranked as America’s third-largest restaurant chain by sales, following Starbucks and McDonald’s. In 2022, the chain reported revenue of $7.89 billion, according to franchisee disclosure documents.
The company has already experimented with various non-food strategies to boost restaurant sales. These include selling branded merchandise, such as a chicken sandwich-inspired sleeping bags, and launching Pennycake, a brand dedicated to family-friendly games and puzzles. Additionally, Chick-fil-A has been releasing animated shorts on YouTube during the holiday season as part of the “Stories of Evergreen Hills” series.
A preview of the app, shared with CNBC, showed its first 22-minute episode of “Legends of Evergreen Hills,” continuing protagonist Sam’s adventures in the fantasy world of Evergreen Hills. The app will also include “Hidden Island,” a scripted podcast about a family stranded on a deserted island, and a cooking tutorial featuring a Chick-fil-A milkshake.
The app, available for pre-download on iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, represents Chick-fil-A’s response to changing consumer behavior, which increasingly favors drive-thru and delivery over in-store dining.