Skip to main contentSkip to footer
Beyond fear, beyond anger. Real news, real hope.Discover the Monitor difference.
Log inLog out
Log inSubscribeGive a gift
of stories this month>Get unlimited stories
Your subscription makes our work possible.
We want to bridge divides to reach everyone.
Subscribe
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily.
Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Select free newsletters:
');});$( document ).ready( function(){triggerNewsletterModal(); if( $('body').hasClass('ezn-1156735') ) { $('.newsletter-banner').remove(); }if ( sfid && typeof csmJs.pageData.section === 'object'){var pagePath = csmJs.pageData.sections;if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Books' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'books' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Politics' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'politics' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Education' ) > -1 || pagePath.indexOf( 'The Culture' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'culture-learning' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Science' ) > -1 || pagePath.indexOf( 'Environment' ) > -1 || pagePath.indexOf( 'Technology' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'science' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'A Christian Science Perspective' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'csperspective' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Commentary' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'commentary' );}else{csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'weekend' );}}});
The Bite
Chick fil-A handily beat competitor KFC in sales last year, despite having far fewer locations. There are about 1,775 Chick-fil-A restaurants in the US and about 4,491 KFCs.
![Chick-fil-A sales trounce KFC, with half the locations (14) Chick-fil-A sales trounce KFC, with half the locations (14)](https://i0.wp.com/images.csmonitor.com/csm/2014/04/0401chickfila.jpg?alias=standard_900x600nc)
|
Mike Stewart/AP/File
A Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant in Atlanta. Despite having less than half the locations and being closed on Sundays, Chick-fil-A sales surpassed KFC's in the US by about $800 million in 2013.
Loading...
By Schuyler VelascoStaff writer
KFC has ruled atop the fast food chicken market in the US for years. In 2004, the fast food chain had 5,500 locations, and its sales made up nearly half of the quick service fried chicken market.
A decade later, the Colonel’s restaurant has been bested by a competitor less than half its size. Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based chain known for its chicken sandwiches and the outspoken religious beliefs of its ownership, made $5 billion in sales last year, topping KFC’s $4.2 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg Businessweek.That’s impressive for a few reasons: Chick-fil-A, which is heavily concentrated in the South, has 1,775 locations; KFC has about two and half times that, at 4,491 restaurants. But Chick-fil-A made up for its small footprint in terms of restaurant traffic, with the average store making $3.2 million, more than triple the $938,000 for the average KFC location. To boot, Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, so the chain only has money coming in six days a week.
During its 2004 peak, KFC had about four times the locations as Chick-fil-A. Both the latter’s number of locations and sales figures have increased in that time, while KFC has closed about a thousand restaurants since its peak and focused most of its expansion efforts in Asia. Chick-fil-A has been more successful than its competitors in the breakfast market, and customers tend to spend more per check than they do at other chains, said Darren Tristano, an executive vice president at restaurant consultancy Technomic,in an interview with Bloombeg.
Chick-fil-A has an enthusiastic following, particularly in the South, and it’s been savvy in anticipating and meeting customer demands for healthier options within the changing fast food landscape. In February, the chain announced plans to convert to antibiotic-free chicken within the next five years. Last year, it removed artificial yellow dye from its chicken soup and began testing the removal of other ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup, from its food after Vani Hari, an influential food blogger, wrote a post outlining the ingredients in Chick-fil-A foods titled “Chick-fil-A or Chemical-fil-A?”
Perhaps because of these responses, consumers gave the chain high marks in “Social responsibility,” in a recent Technomic survey.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Chick-fil-A is free from controversy. In 2012, the chain was a part of dueling demonstrations after CEO Dan Cathy made public comments condemning gay marriage. Religious leaders and those who felt Chick-fil-A had a right to do business regardless of its CEO’s views mobilized in support during “Chick-fil-A appreciation Day,” others, including former Boston Mayor Tom Menino and LGBT activists, encouraged a boycott, launched a counter protest called “Kiss Mor Chiks,” encouraging same sex-couples to go to the chain’s restaurants and kiss each other.
The newest chicken king has thrived nonetheless, and its future plans involve expansion of its US footprint beyond its southern stronghold into the Midwest, Northeast, and West. That wouldn’t take much: there are only two Chick-fil-A locations in Massachusetts, for instance, compared to 200 in Georgia and 161 in Florida.
You've readoffree articles.Subscribe to continue.
Help fund Monitor journalism for $11/ month
Already a subscriber? Login
Mark Sappenfield
Editor
Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations.
Our work isn't possible without your support.
Subscribe
Unlimited digital access $11/month.
Already a subscriber? Login
Digital subscription includes:
- Unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
- CSMonitor.com archive.
- The Monitor Daily email.
- No advertising.
- Cancel anytime.
Subscribe
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
Mark Sappenfield, Editor
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Related stories
10 weirdest global fast foods
Test your knowledgeAre you a cheese whiz? Take the cheese quiz!
The BiteChick-fil-A will switch to antibiotic free chicken within five years
Mark Sappenfield
Editor
Dear Reader,
About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:
“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.
But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.
We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”
If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
Subscribe to insightful journalism
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bite/2014/0401/Chick-fil-A-sales-trounce-KFC-with-half-the-locations
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily.
Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Select free newsletters:
');});$( document ).ready( function(){triggerNewsletterModal(); if( $('body').hasClass('ezn-1156735') ) { $('.newsletter-banner').remove(); }if ( sfid && typeof csmJs.pageData.section === 'object'){var pagePath = csmJs.pageData.sections;if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Books' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'books' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Politics' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'politics' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Education' ) > -1 || pagePath.indexOf( 'The Culture' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'culture-learning' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Science' ) > -1 || pagePath.indexOf( 'Environment' ) > -1 || pagePath.indexOf( 'Technology' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'science' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'A Christian Science Perspective' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'csperspective' );}else if ( pagePath.indexOf( 'Commentary' ) > -1 ){csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'commentary' );}else{csmJs.cta.changeBanner( 'weekend' );}}});
Subscription expired
Your subscription toThe Christian Science Monitor has expired.Youcan renew your subscription orcontinue to use the site without asubscription.
If you have questions about your account, pleasecontact customer serviceor call us at 1-617-450-2300.
This message will appear once per weekunless you renew orlog out.
Session expired
Your session to The ChristianScience Monitor has expired. Welogged you out.
Log in again
If you have questions about your account, pleasecontact customer serviceor call us at 1-617-450-2300.
No subscription
You don’t have a Christian Science Monitorsubscription yet.
Subscribe now
If you have questions about your account, pleasecontact customer serviceor call us at 1-617-450-2300.