Chick-fil-A Just Launched a New Entertainment App: Chick-fil-A Play

Chick-fil-A is hoping to be more than your go-to spot for a quick chicken sandwich every now and then. Instead, it wants to be your favorite spot for … family entertainment. 

In August, Food & Wine reported on the rumors that Chick-fil-A was working on a streaming entertainment venture that would feature original shows and family-friendly content. At the time, reports swirled that the company’s new division would include programming like a game show produced by Glassman Media and Sugar23, original scripted shows, and animated series. A representative at Chick-fil-A shared in August that the brand had “nothing to share.” But now, we’ve got the goods. 

This week, the brand unveiled its new app, Chick-fil-A Play, which it shared in a press release is “Designed for parents and kids to share and experience together whether they’re enjoying a meal at home, in the drive-thru, or anywhere in-between.”

As predicted, the app, which is free to download and will be available Nov. 18, includes a pretty wide array of content types, including animated shows featuring the Chick-fil-A Cows, which are “all intentionally designed in landscape format to be watched together, either cast to a TV or through a tablet.” It also has those games everyone talked about, but also includes “jokes and conversation starters” to get “the whole family talking — and laughing — together, whether at home or on the go.”

There are additional content types that remained a secret, including original scripted podcasts that are also child-friendly to “use on the way to school, practice and anywhere in-between.” According to CNBC, the first episode of the podcast is called “Hidden Island” and is the story of “a shipwrecked family surviving on a deserted island.” There are also e-books designed to be easy-to-follow for kids too. Finally, the app also contains video-based recipes — one of which includes the Chick-fil-A milkshake as the key ingredient — and crafts for “plenty of ways to experiment in the kitchen or through fun arts and crafts everyone can enjoy.” 

All of this, Dustin Britt, executive director of brand strategy at Chick-fil-A, told CNBC, is because the company paid attention to research and its customers when they said they typically consume some type of content around meal-time. 

“We’ve been paying attention to some research and conversations we’ve had with families that are our customers, and insights bubbled up that content and games are both adjacent to mealtime,” he shared. “Our belief is, as we add value to their experience, then we’re giving them a reason to want to enjoy more Chick-fil-A with us.”