Restricted-time retro packaging will spotlight Chick-fil-A’s heritage, the corporate mentioned.
Supply: Chick-fil-A
For Chick-fil-A’s eightieth anniversary, the rooster chain goes all out: retro packaging, collectible cups, themed merch and even the prospect to win free meals for a yr.
The chain’s anniversary comes because the restaurant trade struggles with declining site visitors. To win again diners, many eating places have leaned into offers, buzzy promotions and bigger advertising budgets.
As a privately held firm, Chick-fil-A doesn’t disclose quarterly monetary outcomes, however franchise disclosure paperwork present that the corporate’s system gross sales development slowed to five.4% in 2024, making it the primary yr in additional than a decade with lower than double-digit gross sales development.
Chick-fil-A has stayed out of the so-called worth wars different eating places have leaned into to compete, however the anniversary offers the chain the chance to draw extra prospects to its eating places. The yearlong advertising marketing campaign kicks off on Monday and represents the largest promotional push ever for Chick-fil-A. Khalilah Cooper, Chick-fil-A’s vice chairman of name technique, promoting and media, advised CNBC that new promoting will highlight the anniversary in each nationwide TV spots and on social media.
On the heart of the marketing campaign is what the corporate is looking “newstalgia,” a portmanteau of “new” and “nostalgia.”
“We have considered this as a strategy to rejoice our heritage with prospects who’ve been with us, probably for many years, for all 80 years, or whether or not they’ve been with us for eight days or have by no means tried Chick-fil-A earlier than,” Cooper mentioned.
Whereas Chick-fil-A’s development is slowing, its gross sales are nonetheless rising even because the broader restaurant trade struggles with extra budget-conscious customers who’re consuming out much less usually and spending much less, resulting in shrinking site visitors to eateries. In 2025, July was the one month with rising restaurant visits in contrast with the year-ago interval, in line with Black Field Intelligence. Month-to-month site visitors hit a low level in February, with the agency reporting a 5.7% fall from a yr earlier.
Chains like Chipotle Mexican Grill, Papa John’s and Wendy’s have reported declining site visitors and falling same-store gross sales. A whole bunch of restaurant places, from the likes of Starbucks and Jack within the Field, completely closed in 2025 because of weak site visitors.
Chick-fil-A’s advertising push
To begin, Chick-fil-A can also be rolling out 4 retro collectible cup designs each few weeks, impressed by the corporate’s archives and the form of its 32-ounce cup. The chain is promoting the cups for $3.99 at eating places nationwide.
Plus, Chick-fil-A has give you its personal riff on Willy Wonka’s well-known golden ticket: the Golden Fan Cup. The three,000 prospects who purchase a collectible cup and obtain the Golden Fan Cup will obtain free Chick-fil-A for a yr.
The chain may also give its iconic rooster sandwich limited-time, vintage-inspired packaging.
Chick-fil-A plans to promote themed merch by way of its web site over the course of the yr. Prospects who go to its eating places may also be capable of buy limited-edition designs of its stuffed cows.
Additionally as a part of the marketing campaign, Chick-fil-A is including its frosted sodas and floats to its menu completely, beginning Monday. Prospects may also count on to see extra limited-time menu objects all year long than Chick-fil-A usually affords, in line with Cooper.
The give attention to “newstalgia” may also be entrance and heart on the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Friday, when the Oregon Geese face off towards the Indiana Hoosiers within the School Soccer Playoff semifinal.
Chick-fil-A traces its roots to 1946, when S. Truett Cathy and his brother opened a restaurant known as The Dwarf Grill in Hapeville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Greater than 20 years later, Cathy opened the primary Chick-fil-A location, with its trademark rooster sandwich. The enterprise remains to be household owned, and Cathy’s grandson Andrew serves as its CEO.
The privately held chain’s system gross sales reached $22.74 billion in 2024, making it the third-largest restaurant chain within the U.S., trailing solely McDonald’s and Starbucks. Over the previous decade, Chick-fil-A has expanded far past its Southeastern stronghold, opening places all throughout the U.S. and planning to increase its worldwide enterprise into the UK and Singapore.
