Business has been booming for Chick-fil-A, as sales for the chicken sandwich chain soared by 15.5 percent in 2018 and traffic to its stores went up by 10 percent since 2017.
But the privately-held chicken sandwich franchise is making such a splash that it is catching up to publicly-traded competitors such as McDonalds and Wendy’s years ahead of schedule.
Kalinowski Equity Research told Marketwatch that Chick-fil-A’s popularity is growing faster than expected, as the chain was not expected to grow this quickly until 2020.
"We have long pointed out that Chick-fil-A is the restaurant competition with which McDonald’s U.S. should most concern itself ‐ and by extension, investors should too," according to a statement from Kalinowski Equity Research. "But this goes beyond McDonald’s."
The chain’s projected sales for 2018 are expected to top $10 billion, even though the chicken sandwich joint is only open six days a week to keep company founder Truett Cathy’s wish to close the stores on Sundays to observe it as a holy day.