Dive Brief:
- Chick-fil-A plans to open 25 to 30 locally owned and operated restaurants in Michigan by the end of 2028, the company said Wednesday in a press release.
- The QSR entered the Mitten State in 2015 and has since grown to 28 restaurants there. The expansion would roughly double its unit count in Michigan.
- Chick-fil-A has steadily grown its franchised unit count in the past three years, adding roughly net 100 units in both 2021 and 2022 and net 141 units in 2023, not including company-owned stores which were already open that the brand transferred to franchisees, according to the chain’s 2024 franchise disclosure agreement. The chain plans to open 157 franchised units in the U.S. this year.
Dive Insight:
Michigan has a mix of rural, suburban and city markets, which made it ideal for Chick-fil-A, Scott Mayerson, Chick-fil-A’s area director for the Midwest region, said in a statement.
Four of its Michigan restaurants are set to open during the fall/winter in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area. Two restaurants are expected to open in Lansing/Jackson, one in Saginaw and another in Benton Harbor in 2025.
The Midwest has been a popular target of other growing chains. Sweetgreen opened its first Michigan unit in 2022, its first Wisconsin location in July 2023 and its first Ohio unit this month. In April, Cava opened its first Chicago location, which was its “strongest new market entry ever,” CEO Brett Schulman said during the company’s Q2 2024 earnings call. The chain now has four units in Illinois.
In addition to expanding in Michigan, Chick-fil-A plans further investment in Puerto Rico with the addition of 15 units by 2030. It originally entered the U.S. territory in 2022. It is opening 20 units by 2030 in Alberta, Canada, and will open its first permanent United Kingdom location in early 2025. The brand also laid out plans to add restaurants in Europe and Asia by 2026.
As of 2023, the chain had 2,552 franchised and company-owned units and 412 licensed units, per its FDD.
The fast food company is exploring new formats and opened a digital-only restaurant in New York City earlier this year. In August, it opened its first elevated drive-thru in the Atlanta-metro region. The chicken chain also has been adding mobile pickup lanes and geofencing to improve wait times.
