Chick-fil-A to launch entertainment app Play with shows and podcasts

Chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, milkshakes – and now TV shows and podcasts?

Chick-fil-A plans to launch a new app on November 18, with a lineup of original animated shows, scripted podcasts, games, recipes and e-books geared toward families.

While it’s unusual for a restaurant company to jump into the media-crowded world, Chick-fil-A has been expanding outside of the food business for years now — with the ultimate goal of steering more people to its more of 3,000 restaurants. As of 2019, Chick-fil-A occupies the third-largest U.S. restaurant chain by sales, behind Starbucks and McDonald’s, with far fewer locations than both. Last year, its revenue reached $7.89 billion, according to franchisee disclosure documents.

As it tries to generate more restaurant sales, the company has sold branded products, like a sleeping bag that looks like the packaging on its chicken sandwich, and created a spin-off brand called Pennycakewhich offers games and puzzles suitable for families. And for five years he’s been out animated short films on YouTube during the holiday season as part of its “Stories of Evergreen Hills” series.

“We’ve been paying attention to some research and conversations we’ve been having with families who are our customers, and ideas have emerged that content and gaming are both adjacent to mealtime,” Dustin Britt said. , executive director of Chick-fil-A. branding, entertainment and media.

“Our belief is that as we add value to their experience, we give them a reason to want to enjoy more of Chick-fil-A with us,” he added.

A preview of the app viewed by CNBC included the 22-minute premiere episode of “Legends of the evergreen hills”, which continues the adventures of the protagonist Sam in the fantasy world of Evergreen Hills; the first installment of “Hidden Island,” a scripted podcast about a family who is shipwrecked on a desert island; and a step-by-step cooking tutorial that uses a Chick-fil-A milkshake as the key ingredient.

Customers can pre-download the free Chick-fil-A Play app for their iPhones, iPads and Android devices ahead of launch next month.

Chick-fil-A decided to create the app after years of discussions with customers and as consumer behavior shifts away from extended visits to its restaurants.

While many Chick-fil-A customers still enjoy its restaurant playgrounds, more customers are now using its drive-thru aisles and ordering delivery, according to Khalilah Cooper, vice president of strategy Chick-fil-A branding and advertising. and the media. Rival McDonald’s has slowly wiped out its PlayPlaces, a change likely resulting from fewer children using the playgrounds, concerns about health and safety, and a shift away from marketing aimed at children.

“We see this app as a way to create a digital playground that the whole family can enjoy, whether they are in our restaurants, at the drive-thru, driving to soccer practice or even relaxing at the house,” Cooper said. CNBC. “We want this to be an extension of our hospitality and generosity at the restaurant.”

The app’s content focuses on themes such as generosity, friendship, problem solving, creativity and entrepreneurship, according to Cooper. Chick-fil-A designed the app’s content to appeal to children aged 12 and under and their parents.

After the initial launch, new episodes of “Legends of Evergreen Hills” will air weekly during the holidays; “Hidden Island” will follow a similar release schedule. Next year, the Play app will launch “Ice Lions,” another scripted audio series based on the true story of Kenyan teenagers who aim to form the country’s first ice hockey team.

Most of the content that will be available on the app was created with external partners led by Chick-fil-A’s internal team, but some was licensed. The company did not disclose the names of its external partners.

“We’re constantly thinking about what additional things we could add to the app over time,” Cooper said.

In August, publication in the media Reported delay that Chick-fil-A has worked with outside production companies for content, including unscripted shows, such as a family game show.

“I will say that we’re exploring a variety of different types of content, and everything right now is a potential opportunity for us. We’re going to continue to learn and explore and figure out what works,” Britt said.

As traditional media players like Disney And Discovery Warner Bros. As we’ve discovered, creating content is expensive and attracting viewers is difficult, given the glut of options available on streaming services.

For brands like Chick-fil-A, the math is a little different. Rather than using content to make money through subscriptions or ads, they seek to sell more of their own products. This has been the case since Procter & Gamble was the first to sponsor daytime radio shows to sell its soap opera – thus creating the soap opera.

“There’s a lot of content creation coming out of media houses for brands, and I think brands want to tap into that because it feels more authentic. It feels more like content than an ad,” Stephani said Estes, media director for Goodway Group, a digital marketing agency.

More recent entrants include Starbuckswhich announced this summer that it will create original content through a partnership with Sugar23. And in January, Chuck E. Cheese said he’s working with “Top Chef” producer Magical Elves to create his own game show.

“I think the biggest question I would ask myself, as a marketer, is what is the business problem that you’re trying to solve? And will the dollar invested in this particular content creation or initiative pay off? Is it more than that dollar spent elsewhere in the marketing funnel?

For Chick-fil-A, branded content allows it to connect with kids — without the same stink as direct advertising to them — and foster their parents’ goodwill toward the brand.

And unlike Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, Chick-fil-A has some flexibility in determining whether the investment works. As a family business, it is not beholden to shareholders who might object to an expensive marketing venture.

Chick-fil-A has money to spend too, especially given its meteoric growth over the past decade. From 2018 to 2023, its system-wide sales nearly doubled. Last year, its net profit was $1.07 billion. Chairman Dan Cathy, who served as CEO from 2013 to 2021 and father of current CEO Andrew Cathy, has a net worth of $10.6 billion, according to Forbes Estimates.

Coincidentally, Dan Cathy owns Atlanta-based Trilith Studios, whose stages have served as settings for numerous Marvel films and TV shows, as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s 2024 mega-flop “Megalopolis.” Tax breaks and cheap labor have helped Atlanta become the “Hollywood of the South” over the past decade. Cathy was previously criticized for comments she made in 2012 against same-sex marriage, and the company’s foundation made donations to anti-LGBTQ groups while she was chief executive.

Dan Cathy was not directly involved in developing the Play app or making content decisions, according to Cooper. Chick-fil-A also hasn’t worked with its studio – yet.

“We haven’t worked directly with Trilith yet, but it’s something we continue to explore, where it makes the most sense for our businesses and brands,” she said.