The opening of new Chick-Fil-A locations earlier this year in both Colorado Springs and Phoenix underlines a larger strategy that is positioning the company to become the third largest fast food chain in the country.
And as a sign of its increased product popularity and revenue stream, say industry analysts, the Atlanta-based company is continuing with plans to build new stores in all regions of the country.
The chain, reporting revenues of more than $9 billion last year, has doubled the number of outlets it owns, from just over 1,000 a decade ago to over 2,300 today. At the same time, Chick-Fil-A’s market share has increased from 18 percent in 2009 to more than 33 percent last year.
According to the magazine Restaurant Business, Chick-Fil-A is now on the verge of becoming the most serious competitor to fast food king McDonald’s. In so doing, says the publication, the company is expected this year to “leapfrog sales at Wendy’s and Burger King.”
The restaurant company currently has around 40 outlets in Arizona, more than 50 in Colorado, and just over two dozen in New Mexico. The company has also, in the last two years, been expanding its presence in New England, the Midwest, and northern California.
Building roughly one hundred new locations yearly, Chick-Fil-A this month is opening one new store in New York, three in Texas, two in Tennessee, and one each in Georgia and California.
Such locations, sometimes built as stand-alone facilities, or in existing retail centers, average around 4,800 square feet, although the company opened a 12,000 square foot outlet in Manhattan last year and a 6,000 square food restaurant in Burbank, California several months ago.
By Garry Boulard
