Chick-Fil-A is touted as the home of the chicken sandwich and has grown to surpass Kentucky Fried Chicken as the leading seller of fast-food chicken dishes.
A restaurant like Chick-Fil-A needs to source a lot of chickens to feed their many millions of customers, so where does the restaurant source them from? To find answers to this and much more, check out everything I discovered!
Where Do Chick-Fil-A Chickens Come From In [currentyear]?
Chick-Fil-A gets its chicken from a source closest to the restaurant, as long as they are reared according to the guidelines issued by the company as of [currentyear]. The chickens must be domestically and ethically raised and harvested and must have been fed in a wholesome manner. Chick-Fil-A uses fresh chicken delivered several times a week.
Stay with me to learn more about how Chick-Fil-A ensures that its chicken is properly reared and supplied fresh!
Is Chick-Fil-A Chicken Real Or Fake?
Chick-Fil-A uses 100% real organic chicken in its dishes. Also, the restaurant publicly declares the chicken is real, never before ground or separated, and free of fillers or steroids and hormones.
Moreover, unlike other fast-food restaurants replacing real chicken with plant-based imitations to make them vegan friendly, Chick-Fil-A still uses only real chicken.
Where Does Chick-Fil-A Get Its Chicken From?
What has been observed to remain constant is that the restaurant mostly buys chicken from Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee.
Additionally, Chick-Fil-A farms have bought chicken from Tyson, Purdue, Cargill, Claxton Poultry, Sanderson, Wayne, and Peco farms.
As you can imagine, the company’s demand for chicken is massive, and its strict standards may help explain the constant change in suppliers.
Does Chick-Fil-A Chicken Have Chemicals?
Chick-Fil-A ensures that its chicken is reared free of chemicals and that the chickens’ growth process is as natural as possible.
Further, the restaurant forbids steroids or hormones to speed growth and encourage weight gain in the chickens.
In 2019, Chick-Fil-A banned antibiotics in chickens, as their use has been linked to cancer in consumers.
Also, before the company awards a chicken farmer a contract to supply chicken, the farmer must satisfy all the requirements.
After that, the contractor’s farm is visited periodically to ascertain if they are following the regulations.
What Type Of Chicken Does Chick-Fil-A Use?
Chick-Fil-A uses boneless breast chicken meat for its sandwiches and nuggets.
That said, this is considered white meat compared with dark meat from the other areas of the chicken, like the thigh.
Moreover, though the dark meat from the thighs contains more fibers and is juicier and more flavorful, it also has fewer proteins and higher levels of unhealthy fats, especially with the skin.
Therefore, the restaurant’s white meat is leaner with less harmful cholesterol but has more proteins and is less flavorful.
Still, this problem Chick-Fil-A solves by brining and marinating the meat with its Polynesian sauce and frying it in peanut oil.
Is Chick-Fil-A Chicken Frozen?
The chicken is never frozen at Chick-Fil-A, and that is why it has that cleaner wholesome taste that is so popular with its customers.
With that, the chicken arrives fresh in the restaurant and is breaded by hand before frying.
Unless it will be prepared for later, the chicken is not cold stored and only enough to keep it safe to consume.
Typical, this is unnecessary in most instances as Chick-Fil-A has its chicken delivered to the restaurants several times a week rather than buying in bulk and cold storing it.
Additionally, the superiority of unfrozen chicken can be seen in the fact that even restaurants that received their chicken flash-frozen at the source are now receiving it fresh.
What Chick-Fil-A Dishes Use Chicken?
Though Chick-Fil-A has many foods and beverages on its menu, none are more popular than chicken items; these three are the most popular:
1. Chicken Sandwiches
At Chick-Fil-A, the chicken sandwich types include:
- Chick-Fil-A Deluxe Sandwich (fried chicken filet, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and American cheese)
- Grilled Chicken Sandwich (chicken marinated in lemon herbs with lettuce and tomato)
- Chick-Fil-A Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich (grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and Colby Jack cheese)
- Spicy Chicken Sandwiches
- Spicy Deluxe Sandwich with Pepper Jack cheese
2. Chicken Nuggets
Another popular dish at Chick-Fil-A is the delicious chicken nuggets, which pair perfectly with several dipping sauces.
3. Chicken Tenders
Finally, another popular dish that includes chicken at Chick-Fil-A is the chicken tenders.
Like the chicken nuggets, the restaurants’ chicken tenders pair wonderfully with an array of dipping sauces.
Is Chick-Fil-A Reared Ethically?
Chick-Fil-A goes to great lengths to ensure the chicken was reared and harvested ethically.
However, a great customer experience goes beyond excellent service and an exquisite product.
That said, customers want to enjoy their meal without the guilt that suffering was occasioned to satisfy them.
Therefore, Chick-Fil-A requires that all the chickens be housed in humane conditions, not caged, with room to roam, sheltered from adverse weather, and full access to feeds and water.
Also, the harvesting must be done quickly and efficiently.
Of course, the company does not wish to be associated with reports of its chicken tortured by being crammed into tight spaces, overfed till they are too heavy, or scalded while still alive.
Further, such treatment is not only illegal but is bad publicity that drives customers away. Besides, chicken reared in comfortable conditions offers more flavorsome meat.
How Much Chicken Does Chick-Fil-A Use In A Year?
If Chick-Fil-A is the leading chicken fast food restaurant chain, how many chickens does it take to sate America’s appetite?
However, it is not known exactly how many chickens lose their lives so that customers can enjoy their Chick-Fil-A chicken delicacies.
Still, a single New York City Chick-Fil-A restaurant claims it goes through 720 pounds of grilled and spiced chicken in a day, which is only one of over 2,300 restaurants nationwide.
Also, another rough indicator of how many chickens Chick-Fil-A uses in a year is that its second-closest competitor KFC sells 850 million chickens in a year.
To learn more, you can also see our posts on sauces at Chick-Fil-A, if Chick-Fil-A has milkshakes, and does Chick-Fil-A have vegan options.
Conclusion
Chick-Fil-A takes care to source its chicken from where it is properly and ethically bred and harvested and from where it can get to its restaurants quickly while still fresh.
Further, most of it is supplied by the farms in Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee, though the farms themselves are frequently changing to maintain standards and supply.
