Do you want to open a Chick-Fil-A franchise? If YES, here is a detailed sample Chick-Fil-A franchise business plan template & FREE feasibility report.
Chick-fil-A Restaurant is one of the most famous American fast food restaurant chains and the biggest whose specialty is chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in College Park, Georgia, this company operates over 2,300 restaurants, mostly in the United States with locations in 47 states, it plans for Hawaii to be the 48th state.
Known to serve breakfast before transitioning to its lunch and dinner menu, its over 2000 business locations also offer customers catered selections from its menu for special events. The company’s franchise opportunity represents an exceptional offering in the quick-service restaurant industry.
With an initial franchise fee of $10,000, selected franchisees (who we call Operators) are granted the rights necessary to operate a franchised Chick-fil-A Restaurant business. The Chick-fil-A franchise opportunity requires that the individual be free of any other active business indulgence and operate the restaurant on a full-time, hands-on basis.
All operators are expected to successfully complete an extensive, multi-week training program prior to taking over operation of a franchised Chick-fil-A restaurant business. With additional development courses and franchise support available, Chick-fil-A Operators are well prepared to handle decisions and reap the rewards of a lucrative business model.
A Sample Chick-Fil-A Franchise Business Plan Template
1. Industry Overview
According to statistics, sales growth by chicken chains rose by 8.9 percent last year, making it the fastest-growing segment in the United States. While in the chicken restaurant segment, Chick-Fil-A topped the chart with $10.5 billion in sales.
The sales revenue put Chick-Fil-A ahead not just of its sector, but it also ahead of Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, and Subway, making it the United States’ third-largest chain in terms of sales. It’s now behind only McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Chick-Fil-A established 129 stores last year coupled with a 16.7 percent growth in sales, a clear indication that the chain’s growth path is not nearly complete. Reports also projects per-unit sales for Chick-Fil-A at $4.6 million, up 4.6 percent from the previous year.
This data means that with the company’s current pattern, extensive retail footprint growth is an important lever for the chain’s continued success. Chick-Fil-A restaurant locations all mirror population centers, with noticeable growth in the past 12 months in more underserved areas.
According to reports, even American consumers are growing massively, too. Not only is there room for footprint improvements, but foot traffic is on a steady growth path. Using Facebook “Were Here” data over time, calculating the number of people posting selfies, status updates, and check-ins at Chick-Fil-A locations.
Since 2017, Were Here count for Chick-Fil-A has grown from 5.3 million to 7.6 million. This foot-traffic trend compares favorably to those of Burger King and McDonalds, both of which are seeing slowing trends when it comes to Were Here counts.
According to experts, if Chick-Fil-A expects to expand its presence with customers, it will need to have a workforce in place to both manage the brand’s expansion, but also operate the new restaurants. On the corporate level at the very least, Chick-Fil-A corporate openings have more than doubled in the past year alone.
Chick-Fil-A’s expansion, while it may look on the surface as a trend that is destined for a cool-off period, appears to be in its early stages based on headroom in our data. Store locations show an underserved market, foot traffic trends show steady demand, and a growing labor base all point to acceleration.
2. Executive Summary
Chick-fil-A Calgary will offer the people of Calgary an exciting menu of chicken, sandwiches, burgers, salads, desserts and beverages. The purpose of this business plan is to secure additional, long-term funding from our banking partner to establish a Chick-fil-A franchise in the city of Calgary, Alberta.
The owners of the company are willing to invest $20,000 CAD and assume over $34,000 CAD in short-term liability to secure the funding for inventory, and early operations. The SBA 504 loan we seek is in the amount of $15,000 CAD and if approved, will be amortized to 2 years. The franchiser, “Chick-fil-A Inc.,” is one of the fastest growing franchises in North America.
Sales last year topped $10.5 billion. The chain is positioned somewhere between traditional fast food restaurants, and modern sit-down restaurants. This segment of the market is attuned to the health benefits of the customers eating habits and general health.
Our goal is to be that choice in the western Canadian province of Albert. To succeed with our goal, and to encourage a healthy lifestyle, we will sponsor local sporting events, and give 2 percent of profits to local charities. We also plan to build roots into the community.
We will also market our products with local businesses, an eclectic mix of bars, cultural venues, public squares (including Olympic Plaza) and shopping. Including notable shopping areas such as The Core Shopping Centre (formerly Calgary Eaton Centre/TD Square), Stephen Avenue and Eau Claire Market.
Our Goal
Our primary goal for this plan is that it helps us secure this $15,000 CAD. Once we have done that, our goal will be to build value for our constituents, ourselves, our brand, our customers, and the community. We see these goals as being consistent with the goals the SBA expects of itself and its guarantors.
After due research and assessment, Chick-fil-A Calgary will reach our targeted audience by deploying Sit-down facilities and Mobile Restaurants to satisfy the various urges of the people of the city. These facilities will be designed to manage the two-sided traffic and dispense specially made chicken and sandwiches in less time than when they visit other businesses.
Chick-fil-A Calgary hopes to provide the people of the city with quality products and an extensive menu of delicious meals, to ensure we get our customer’s awareness and loyalty, as well as good publicity coverage and media support. We at Chick-fil-A Calgary plan to attract revenue through an initial public or private offering that would allow Chick-fil-A Calgary to open 2 to 4 facilities per year in all western Canadian provinces of Albert.
Chick-fil-A Calgary will be registered as a Limited Liability Corporation. But all membership shares for now will be owned by our Franchiser and Howard Singh and we also plan to leverage a portion of the shares to raise capital. Our plan at Chick-fil-A Calgary is to sell 100 membership units to angel investors.
Also each membership unit at Chick-fil-A Calgary is priced at $32.4 CAD with a minimum of five units per membership certificate, or a minimum investment of $162 per investor. We have plans to ensure that irrespective of the amount of share units bought, Chick-fil-A Inc. and Howard Singh will maintain ownership of no less than 75 percent of Chick-fil-A Calgary.
3. Our Products and Services
Chick-fil-A Calgary, just like every other Chick-fil-A Inc. model restaurant will serve breakfast before transitioning to lunch and dinner menu. Chick-fil-A will also offer customers catered selections from our menu for special events. Chick-fil-A Inc. business strategy involves a focus on a simple menu and good customer service.
Although, other fast food companies tend to grow their menu offerings to attempt to attract new customers, Chick-fil-A’s business model is to remain focused on chicken sandwiches. Our product list include:
- Chick-fil-A Chicken
- Chick-fil-A Beverages
- Chick-fil-A Breakfast items
- Chick-fil-A Desserts
- Chick-fil-A salads
- Chick-fil-A sandwiches
- Chick-fil-A sauce
- Chick-fil-A Sides
- Chick-fil-A Wraps and many more…
4. Our Mission and Vision Statement
- Chick-fil-A Calgary’s vision is to establish a restaurant that will provide unique and assorted Chick-fil-A known services to the people of Calgary, Alberta.
- Our mission at Chick-fil-A Calgary is to provide the finest, healthiest and best tasting chicken sandwiches and meals at Calgary.
- Chick-fil-A Calgary will offer the finest customer service; no customer will leave dissatisfied.
Our Business Structure
Operators are the backbone of the Chick-fil-A chain. Chick-fil-A, Inc. stands are ready to support each franchisee and to honor its heritage by fostering their dreams. All facility operators are also owners. Chick-fil-A Operators always want every operator to take a personal stake in the success of the company, and for that reason every operator gets a cognizant share in the facility ownership.
Most of our employees will come from Calgary and most of the Alberta province in Canada. They will be residents of the province and will not need healthcare benefits. This will hold our payroll burden to less than 6 percent of total payroll.
Chick-Fil-A Calgary will hold an annual hiking and camping trip to Prince’s Island Park. This “team building” exercise will come out of the marketing budget. All our employees will be respected, and will wear a company polo or sweatshirt, not a tight-fitting, artificial fiber, company-mandated jumpsuit.
Our employees will be paid more (in salary & benefits) than employees at most other fast food restaurants. In this way, we will meet the needs of our market, and differentiate our company from the myriad of fast food competition.
Chick-Fil-A expects to hire 12 employees. Howard Singh will personally select each candidate. He will adopt an effective interview process designed to staff the restaurant with highly qualified people for each position. Each applicant will be rated and evaluated according to Chick-fil-A Inc. pre-defined set of standards.
Background checks will be utilized for designated positions. Recruiting efforts will always center on referrals. These roles include:
- Facility Operator
- Cashier
- Information officer
- Department managers
- Store manager
- Servers
- Cleaner
5. Job Roles and Responsibilities
Facility Operator
- Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counselling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results
- Tasked with fixing prices and signing business deals
- Tasked with providing direction for the business
- Creates, communicates, and implements the facility’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall facility’s strategy.
- Tasked with signing checks and documents on behalf of the Chick-fil-A Calgary
- Evaluates the success of the facility
Financial Officer
- Tasked with preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the facility
- Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports
- Tasked with financial forecasting and risks analysis.
- Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
- Tasked with developing and managing financial systems and policies
- Tasked with administering payrolls
- Ensures compliance with taxation legislation
- Handles all financial transactions for the facility
- Serves as internal auditor for the facility
Information officer
- Provide technological guidance within the facility.
- Supervise information system and communication network.
- Develop and implement a customer service platform to serve the facility
- Design, establish, and maintain a network infrastructure for local and wide area connectivity and remote access.
- Consult with administration, department managers, and manufacturing representatives to exchange information, present new approaches, and to discuss equipment/system changes.
- Participate in vendor contract negotiations for all new computer equipment and software purchased for the corporation.
- Create a cost-benefit analysis as well as supporting a detailed definition of data requirements and departmental workflows.
- Oversee Internet and computer operations.
- Takes care of the day-to-day operations of the information technology department including directing staff, who support administrative computing, networking, user services, telecommunications and other information technology functions.
- Assess and anticipate technology projects and recommend appropriate action and resources.
- Establish and direct the strategic and tactical goals, policies, and procedures for the information technology department.
- Propose hardware/software solutions to accomplish the Chick-fil-A Calgary’s business objectives.
- Identify user needs and resolve problems.
Store manager
- Maintains receiving, warehousing, and distribution operations by initiating, coordinating, and enforcing program, operational, and personnel policies and procedures.
- Complies with federal, state, and local warehousing, material handling, and shipping requirements by studying existing and new legislation; enforcing adherence to requirements; advising management on needed actions.
- Safeguards store operations and contents by establishing and monitoring security procedures and protocols.
- Controls inventory levels by conducting physical counts; reconciling with data storage system.
- Maintains physical condition of store by planning and implementing new design layouts; inspecting equipment; issuing work orders for repair and requisitions for replacement.
- Completes store operational requirements by scheduling and assigning employees; following up on work results.
- Maintains store staff job results by coaching, counselling, and disciplining employees; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results.
Servers
- Provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
- Through interaction with customers on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the Chick-fil-A Calgary ’s products and services
- Takes care of administrative duties assigned by the operator in an effective and timely manner
- Consistently stays abreast of any new information on Chick-fil-A Calgary, promotional campaigns etc. to makes sure accurate and helpful information is supplied to customers when they make enquiries
Cleaner
- Tasked with cleaning the facility at all times
- Makes sure that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
- Cleans both the interior and exterior of the facility
- Any other duty as assigned by the operator.
6. SWOT Analysis
Our goal at Chick-fil-A Calgary is to create a Chick-fil-A Inc. modelled restaurant that sees to the need of the people of Calgary, which will also capture majority of the local market share. With our laid out plans and hunger to take the industry by storm, we have put plans in place and assessed our SWOT Analysis. Clearly summarized below is the result of our SWOT Analysis;
Strengths
- Prime location with Canada being a new market for Chick-fil-A Inc.
- Exceptional staff with the can-do attitude.
- Operators extensive franchisee training
- A well tested and trusted brand name
Weaknesses
- Recruiting and retaining quality employees
- Tight margins will allow little wiggle room for error
Opportunities
- Little barriers to entry allows for immediate business opportunities
- New and viable market
Threats
- Government mandates (restaurant operation, food safety, and worker protection at the federal level and health, sanitation, safety, fire at the local level)
- Rising operating costs
- Building/maintaining sales volume
- Parent company LGBT crisis
7. MARKET ANALYSIS
8. Our Target Market
Chick-fil-A Calgary will appeal to a broad base of consumers in both the residential and business community. The location selected for Chick-fil-A Calgary was chosen primarily to appeal to the growing number of households in the area. Calgary had a population of 1,285,711 in 2019, making it Alberta’s largest city. It is the third-largest municipality in Canada (after Toronto and Montreal), and the largest in western Canada.
In 2016, Calgary had a metropolitan population of 1,392,609, making it the fourth-largest census metropolitan area (CMA) in Canada and second-largest in western Canada. Calgary was ranked by The Economist Intelligence Unit as the most livable city in North America in both 2018 and 2019.
Calgary has been ranked as a top 5 contender for this title for the last 10 years. Where our first facility will be located, Downtown Calgary, include the Calgary Zoo, the Telus Spark, the Telus Convention Centre, the Chinatown district, the Glenbow Museum, the Calgary Tower, the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC), The Military Museums and Arts Commons.
- Our competitive advantage
All Chick-fil-A operators successfully complete an extensive, multi-week training program prior to taking over operation of a franchised Chick-fil-A restaurant business. With additional development courses and franchise support available, Chick-fil-A Operators are equipped to handle decisions and reap the rewards of a challenging business.
Chick-fil-A Calgary will also create an advantage in regards to the overall quality and differentiation of our products, and in the cleanliness and ambiance of our seating area.
Our sandwiches, beverages, etc. are all of the finest quality, and have been refined through taste-tests sponsored by Chick-fil-A Inc. Our seating area will be clean, the murals and prints on the wall will feature airy Italian landscape and Canadian lifestyle motifs.
The walls will be painted a rich yellow color, the tables and chairs are a rich walnut color, and the floor will consist of high-quality tile. All our meals will remain the same in regards to taste, quality of bread and contents, attentiveness to customers, and overall experience.
We will build off of Chick-fil-A Inc. marketing strategy so that we gain from their conversion of burger eaters to sandwich eaters, but alternately prove that we are more responsive to customers and offer better fare than other franchises.
9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY
- Sales and Marketing Strategy
With so many fast food franchises and independent restaurants already open, marketing is one of the most important aspects of opening a burger restaurant.
We at Chick-fil-A Calgary understand this and aside our publicity fee paid to our franchisor, all our facilities will be located on high traffic commuter routes and close to shopping facilities so as to attract customers going to or from work, or while they are out for lunch, or on a shopping expedition.
Our Sit-down will be very simple, astounding, and eye-catching. We also plan to implement a low cost advertising/promotion campaign which could involve drive-time radio, but not much more. Chick-fil-A Calgary will also establish good business relationships with schools, charities and corporations to provide significant free publicity because of our community support program.
We believe that if we give out charitable contributions to these institutions, they will get the word out to their students/faculty/employees/partners about Chick-fil-A Calgary.
Our marketing programs will include customer-centric appeals to switch from the competition, build loyalty, provide cost value to the customers, and build word of mouth marketing. Here’s a list of the sales and marketing programs we intend to implement within the next 2 years:
- 5 daily in-store regular specials, at least 10 percent off one particular chicken sandwich item.
- A direct mail coupon offering 40 percent off your first chicken sandwich when you bring in a Chick-fil-A coupon number and sign up for our mailing list.
- High profile sponsorship of two local sporting or charity events.
- 25 percent off a menu item when you bring in 50 Chick-fil-A paper bags
- Free delivery to any of the local hotels (market only through hotels), and offer to pay hotels a slotting fee.
10. Sales Forecast
Chick-fil-A Calgary will start operations by having two Sit-down locations. We plan to open our first location in the second month of this plan and be fully operational beginning on the 1st day of January, and our second Sit-down will open six months later.
We will also add two more Sit-down locations in our second year and, and an additional four Sit-down facilities in our third year. At Chick-fil-A Calgary, we also plan to deploy one mobile unit in the fourth quarter of the first fiscal year. Deploy a second and a third mobile unit within our second fiscal year.
From these dealings, we expect to generate revenue from the commerce portion of our website, where it will sell Chick-fil-A Calgary meals, nuggets, t-shirts, sweatshirts, insulated lemonade mugs, pre-packaged coffee beans, and other premium items.
Although we are not expecting this to be a significant profit center immediately, but it is a major part of the marketing plan — as a function of developing our brand and building product awareness. We estimate that our total first year sales should reach $2,245,678 CAD.
Our second year will see sales increase to $3,011,430CAD. The third year, with the addition of such a significant number of outlets, we will see sales increase to $4,765,215 CAD.
11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy
Our plan at Chick-fil-A Calgary is to gather enough brand awareness to leverage the product line into other regions and gain inquiries from potential inventors. To achieve this goal to expand and grow, we plan to do the following;
- Chick-fil-A Calgary will spend $2,150 CAD per month on Public relations services for the next year intended to build awareness of editors and product information insertions, reviews, etc.
- Chick-fil-A Calgary will also spend $800 CAD per month concentrating on drive time Radio advertising. We plan to experiment with different stations, keeping careful track of results. As with the school fundraising program, we expect the stand and signage to be a substantial portion of our advertising.
- List our business on local directories
- Attend relevant international and local health, finance and business expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
- Leverage on the internet to promote our business
- Engage direct marketing approach
- Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied clients
Sources of Income
Chick-fil-A Calgary just like every other Chick-fil-A Inc. model restaurant will generate revenue from serving the people of Calgary breakfast before transitioning to lunch and dinner menu. Chick-fil-A will also generate revenue by offering customers catered selections from our menu for special events.
Chick-fil-A Inc. business strategy involves a focus on a simple menu and on good customer service. Although, other fast food companies tend to grow their menu offerings to attempt to attract new customers, Chick-fil-A’s business model is to remain focused on chicken sandwiches. Our product list includes:
- Chick-fil-A Chicken
- Chick-fil-A Beverages
- Chick-fil-A Breakfast items
- Chick-fil-A Desserts
- Chick-fil-A salads
- Chick-fil-A sandwiches
- Chick-fil-A sauce
- Chick-fil-A Sides
- Chick-fil-A Wraps and many more…
12. Our Pricing Strategy
At Chick-fil-A Calgary, plans are in place to boost our income, which may include posting specials on high-profit items at the drive-up window. We also plan to give out free chicken sandwich coupons to those who have purchased a certain number of chicken sandwiches or something similar.
Also, our management has been able to develop window sales techniques such as our servers asking if the customer would like new flavor or toppings with any drink of their choice. We believe that our pricing will be comparable to the competition in the market, but with the value-added feature of immediate, Sit-down service and convenience.
- Payment Options
Our payment options at Chick-fil-A Calgary will be all inclusive and acceptable because we understand that different people prefer different payment options as it suits them. Here are the payment options that we will make available to our clients;
- Payment by cash
- Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
- Payment via online bank transfer (online payment portal)
- Payment via Mobile money
We have also chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our plans with little or no issues. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials to clients who may want to deposit cash or make online transfer for our products.
13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)
In our financial projections and startup cost, the biggest initial outlay is for the franchise fee. This is required to establish the franchise. After paying our Franchise fee, our only liability to the franchise will be the 5 percent cost of sales, and 2 percent advertising charge.
Normally, Chick-fil-A franchise fee would be paid in interest accruing installments, but we decided to avoid this to ensure our books are as clean as possible and to reduce the possibility of a “parent/child” conflict between our franchiser and our business.
Cash requirements for start-up are $35,000 CAD and most of this will sit in a zero interest bearing, highly liquid bank account.
The first month, our change in accounts payable will top $74,000 CAD, so we need this $15,000CAD just in case sales are not what we expected. If sales are 25 percent off projected, this $15,000 CAD will help us gather enough cash to pay off our accounts payable within 30 days.
Howard Singh will invest a combined $20,000 CAD to start-up the franchise. We expect that the majority of this will be paid back to the owners within two years of operation, in the form of dividends. This investment makes up over 60 percent of the total start-up requirements for the company.
The remainder consists of one $15,000 CAD short-term interest bearing SBA 504 program. The term of the expected loan is 2 years.
The SBA loans that we are seeking will be secured via the pre-appraised market value of the land and property, as well as the improvements to be made on the property through 2022. The estimated net market value of the property following all improvements is approximately $560,000 CAD.
Generating Funding/Start up Capital for Chick-fil-A Calgary
Chick-fil-A Calgary will be established as a Limited Liability Company with Chick-fil-A Inc. and Howard Singh as its owners. We hope to raise our start up fund through the following ways;
- Generate part of the startup capital from personal savings and sell of stocks
- Source for soft loans from our banking partner
- Generate fund from Angel Investors
Note: The purpose of this business plan is to secure additional, long-term funding from our banking platform to establish a Chick-fil-A franchise in the city of Calgary.
The owners of the company are willing to invest $20,000 CAD and assume over $34,000 CAD in short-term liability to secure the funding for inventory, and early operations. The SBA 504 loan we seek is in the amount of $15,000 CAD and if approved, will be amortized to 2 years.
14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy
At Chick-fil-A Calgary, our strategy will be to reach the largest amount of Calgary residents and commuters with consistent value-added incentives to purchase our products and visit our restaurant. We acknowledge that in this industry, and especially as a franchise, our promotion programs are almost indistinguishable from our sales programs.
This program handles a lot of the national and regional marketing, and we just pay our fee to have it done. But our flexibility rests on our ability to push the boundaries of freedom the indistinguishable has given us, and to take advantage of opportunities to differentiate ourselves on sales by sale level.
Also, our value proposition is to offer high-quality, healthy fast food at a reasonable price. All our facilities will be clean and our food tastier than that of our competitors. We will ensure that the ambiance of our facilities contributes to customers’ desire to eat their meals in a comfortable, healthy environment.
We also believe that our success hinges on whether customers receive what we promise them, and are pleased enough to come back for more. Our customer centric approach will be successful only if we don’t distract ourselves from the core business of making good chicken sandwiches fast, and of treating the customers as if they are special.
We also know that our industry is filled with several large brand-name restaurants, local fast food chains. Depending on where you look in any given year, 4-5 new fast food outlets may open and close their doors.
The industry is always changing and it is a highly competitive arena where staying power and customer loyalty is difficult to acquire. At Chick-fil-A Calgary, we will distribute our products direct to customers, both through retail and through our catering service.
We don’t depend on a channel of resellers or distributors to get our products into the hands of consumers. We also know that the fast-food business is based largely on the impulsive choice of consumers. Many people buy their business lunch or family dinners at a fast food restaurants, and those fast food restaurants offer not necessarily the best selection, but the most reliable menu and the fastest order completion time.
Customers will try other fast food restaurants, and shop around, but the majority of their fast food purchases are from one of their favorite fast food restaurants. Our goal at Chick-fil-A Calgary is to capture those customers, and to build loyalty to the product through purchase of punch cards, consistent daily specials, and a direct mail list.
Checklist /Milestone
- Business Name Availability Check: Completed
- Business Incorporation: Completed
- Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
- Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
- Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
- Application for business license and permit: Completed
- Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
- Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
- Leasing, renovating and equipping our facility: Completed
- Generating part of the startup capital from the founder: Completed
- Applications for Loan from our Bankers: In Progress
- Writing of Business Plan: Completed
- Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
- Drafting of Contract Documents: In Progress
- Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
- Printing of Packaging and Promotional Materials: Completed
- Recruitment of employees: In Progress
- Purchase of software applications, furniture, office equipment, electronic appliances and facility facelift: In progress
- Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
- Creating Awareness for the business (Business PR): In Progress
- Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement: In Progress
- Establishing business relationship with banks, financial lending institutions, vendors and key players in the industry: In Progress