One of America’s most recognizable fast-food brands is marking a major milestone.
Chick-fil-A is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, a moment that underscores the brand’s longevity and cultural presence in the fast-food landscape.
The anniversary also comes at a challenging time for the broader restaurant industry. As CNBC reported, many chains are contending with declining customer traffic amid ongoing economic uncertainty.
“As a privately held company, Chick-fil-A does not disclose quarterly financial results, but franchise disclosure documents show that the company’s system sales growth slowed to 5.4% in 2024, making it the first year in more than a decade with less than double-digit sales growth.”
Against that backdrop, Chick-fil-A is leaning into the largest marketing campaign in the company’s history, branded “Newstalgia,” and rolling out several limited-time offerings designed to blend the company’s longstanding traditions with new ideas aimed at both loyal customers and new audiences.
“We’ve thought about this as a way to celebrate our heritage with customers who’ve been with us, potentially for decades, for all 80 years, or whether they’ve been with us for eight days or have never tried Chick-fil-A before,” said Chick-fil-A’s vice president of brand strategy, Khalilah Cooper.
The campaign includes several consumer-facing promotions, among them:
Limited-time $3.99 Classic Cups, featuring one of four retro-inspired designs that will be released in stages every few weeks. Because the cups are wrapped and the designs concealed, 3,000 specialty Gold Fan Cups will be distributed at random. Customers who receive a Gold Fan Cup will be awarded free Chick-fil-A for a year.
The campaign also introduces new Frosted Sodas and Floats. Frosted Sodas are blended beverages made with Chick-fil-A’s Icedream vanilla soft-serve base, which can be mixed with a selection of eight drink options: Dr Pepper, Diet Dr Pepper, Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero Sugar, Hi-C Fruit Punch, Hi-C Orange, and Sprite.
The original Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich will also be offered in retro “Newstalgic” packaging as part of the anniversary campaign.
“This season, it’s paired with limited-time retro packaging inspired by Chick-fil-A’s earliest designs,” the company said in a statement. “Featuring vintage-style graphics pulled from the archives, the new packaging will be available in restaurants nationwide and adds a sense of nostalgia to every meal.”
Additional updates are planned later in the year, including refreshed Kids Meal offerings and a new limited-time breakfast menu item.
Chick-fil-A operates more than 3,000 locations and has recently expanded its international footprint with the opening of its first permanent restaurants in Great Britain and Singapore.
The company reported $22.74 billion in sales in 2024, ranking it as the third-largest restaurant chain in the United States, behind only McDonald’s and Starbucks, according to CNBC.
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