Chick-fil-A is spreading its wings. The chain celebrated the opening of its 1,500th restaurant today in downtown Los Angeles.
The new location is one of 78 planned for this year. Today's opening also marked the 43rd anniversary of the first Chick-fil-A opening, in Atlanta, by founder Truett Cathy.
The company opened its first stand-alone California restaurant in 2004 and has since expanded to 30 locations throughout the state. Future sites are planned for the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast regions.
West coasters aren't the only beneficiaries of this growth. Chick-fil-A will also open three Chicago-area restaurants and will expand in St. Louis in 2011, as well.
Apparently the expansion has paid off thus far. Through June, Chick-fil-A has reported $1.5 billion in system-wide sales, which is an overall 9.5 percent increase over its sales performance for the first six months of 2009. Same-store sales increased 3.75 percent in that time period.
Part of that sales success can be attributed to new product introductions at the restaurant. In January, the chain added the Chick-fil-A Yogurt Parfait and Chick-fil-A House Roast Coffee to its breakfast menu.
In June, the Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich hit the menu, the first new sandwich introduction at the chain since 1989. The company plans to continue new product introductions, beginning with the Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit in January 2011.
Also this year, Chick-fil-A is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the "Eat Mor Chikin" ad campaign.
"The opening of the 1,500th restaurant and our continued expansion plans in urban areas demonstrate our steadfast vision for strategic growth in key markets around the country," said Dan T. Cathy, President and COO, Chick-fil-A, Inc.
