The Chick-fil-A stat that always catches me, from a business perspective, is the overall one. As we always do at QSR magazine, we’re preparing to release our biggest report of the year in August—the QSR 50, which has a trail dating back to 1997 (it was called something else the first year, before taking on its current and ongoing title). We collect and mine data to list the top 50 fast-food brands in America by systemwide sales (check out last year’s). Here’s a hint: Just as has been the case since 2023, there were three chains above $20 billion in total U.S. sales. McDonald’s ($54.469 billion), Starbucks ($30.4 billion), and Chick-fil-A ($22.746 billion).
But what makes it noteworthy is the fact McDonald’s finished the calendar with 13,559 stores and Starbucks 16,935. Chick-fil-A had 3,109 (and was open six days a week). In fact, scaling down by systemwide sales, you have to drop 11 brands (Panda Express at 2,505) to find a chain with fewer locations than Chick-fil-A in that echelon. The reason is simply a measure of store-by-store volume, a figure Chick-fil-A has continually topped the QSR 50 on. This year, it came in at blended $7.5 million, a number inclusive of non-drive-thru stores like mall spots. Raising Cane’s was next at $6.56 million. Chick-fil-A traditional drive-thrus in 2024 closed at an average of $9.227 million, a slight decline from $9.275 million in 2023, but well ahead of where it was in 2020 ($7.096 million) and 2021 ($8.142 million). It reflects a larger climate where restaurant guests pulled back visits amid higher costs. And also, Chick-fil-A finds itself at a juncture recalibrating the addition of north of $2 million per unit across a four-year stretch. It’s why a crop of stores are being renovated and why you’ve seen asset innovation like the four-lane, 75-car capacity two-story drive-thru in McDonough, Georgia. There just weren’t a lot of drive-thru fast-food boxes ever designed to handle the traffic of $9 million-plus AUVs spread on an average. That said, there was a Chick-fil-A last year that earned $19.319 million.
There are, naturally, more evolutions at work for Chick-fil-A, from fresh uniforms to its continued efforts to balance capacity (check out how Chick-fil-A fared in our latest QSR Drive-Thru Report), such as express lanes for mobile orders and how it silos duties inside stores to ensure employees master key hospitality focuses.
COME HEAR FROM CHICK-FIL-A CEO ANDREW CATHY
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But at QSR magazine we wanted to offer an inside look into Chick-fil-A’s category-defining business. Two years ago, our QSR Evolution Conference kicked off with CEO Andrew Cathy delivering the inaugural keynote. He wove through the history and shared the mindset behind the equities that drive Chick-fi-A’s business—like its owner-operator approach that requires every franchisee to run one store and embed itself into the community before considering other stores. It’s a “cared-for people, care-for people” DNA Cathy explained trickles down throughout. As a franchisor, Chick-fil-A can’t set labor requirements (wages, etc.) for operators.
Yet what it can do is ensure it puts hospitality-minded people (who also must work in stores) in charge of locations to execute company ideals. Hence, why reports often say it’s more difficult to secure a Chick-fil-A than it is to get into Harvard. Back in 2023, the brand selected 94 owner-operators, which was less than one half of 1 percent of the applicant pool (Harvard’s acceptance rate is roughly 4 percent, per the U.S. Department of Education).
So for Year 3 of our QSR Evolution event—from September 2–5 in Atlanta—we’re bringing Andrew back, but in a different setting. He’s coming to host a “Welcome to Atlanta” experience on Night 1, along with Coca-Cola, which will dive into the mission but also get into the broader purpose and how the rest of the industry can join in. There are going to be special reveals between now and then. Yet regardless, it’s going to be an experience unlike any other on the restaurant education circuit. So we hope you’ll join and kick off two packed days of content that follows, from an entire track dedicated to labor to ones on technology, leadership, and much more.
Hope to see you then,
Danny Klein
