Chick-fil-A Continues Aggressive Expansion Strategy

Chick-fil-A, which ranks third nationally in number of outlets, is accelerating its expansion activities by opening a hundred new restaurants this year. The Atlanta-based chain has more than 1,900 stores in 42 states. The latest outlet will be in New York City, a sign that it wants to expand significantly beyond the South, where it is most heavily concentrated. “We could build restaurants for a long time," says a Chick-fil-A vice president. Though McDonald's (with 14,300 locations) and KFC (with 4,300) are bigger chains, Chick-fil-A restaurants do much better in average sales ($3.2 million). McDonald’s locations average $2.5 million and KFC $960,000.