Did you know that Chick-fil-A's milkshakes aren't made with real ice cream?
You heard right! It's just one of the ways the fast food chicken restaurant
keeps its prices so low. Keep watching to find out more.
Chick-fil-A has more than 140,000 hourly employees working hard behind the scenes
to make sure that all of us get our fix of fried chicken.
"Welcome to Chick-fil-A."
Without them, Chick-fil-A's entire operation would crumble, production would screech to a halt,
and you'd never get to dunk Chick-fil-A's nuggets into their signature sauce ever again.
And Chick-fil-A's labor force is incredibly productive – the average Chick-fil-A store
outside of mall locations made over $7,000,000 in 2020. Like many businesses, however,
Chick-fil-A doesn't seem to put very much of those earnings back into its labor force.
The average hourly wage across the entire U.S. population comes out to just over $16 per hour.
According to Payscale, Chick-fil-A pays an average hourly wage of $11.77 — well
below the average. By paying much of its workforce below-average wages,
Chick-fil-A keeps labor costs down and menu prices low while maximi zing profit.
There's something special about drinking a milkshake while you're eating crispy food
like fried chicken and french fries. The creamy sweetness of the milkshake
perfectly compliments the salty crunch of the food. Chick-fil-A's milkshakes come
in a variety of classic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream, and strawberry,
along with occasional seasonal flavors. But ice cream is fairly pricey these days, so
how is it that Chick-fil-A can sell its milkshakes for a few bucks a pop and still turn a profit? We
hate to burst your milkshake bubble, but Chick-fil-A doesn't use real ice cream.
Chick-fil-A uses "Icedream" as the main ingredient in its milkshakes and its cones.
But what is it made out of? Looking at the nutritional labels on Chick-fil-A's menu online
shows that it's mostly milkfat, sugar, artificial flavorings,
thickening agents, and water. Though a lower fat content makes "Icedream" a little healthier,
it doesn't have enough fat to technically qualify as ice cream. In other words,
Chick-fil-A's "Icedream" mimics the texture and flavoring of ice cream, but isn't the real stuff.
By using artificial ice cream, Chick-fil-A keeps the price of its frozen sweet treats nice and low.
"They overbooked it, so it's first-come, first-serve now."
"Oh, just like real ice cream." Even though Chick-fil-A pays relatively low wages,
it still manages to keep much of its staff long-term. This is an important point,
because a constant revolving door of new employees tends to be very expensive for businesses,
according to The Balance Careers. Turnover costs start to pile up when you factor in
hiring expenditures, pre-employment screening processes, training time,
lower production rates, and extra administrative processing.
Fortunately for Chick-fil-A, the rate of turnover for its franchisors is very low — amazingly,
the retention rate has hovered around 95% for 50 years. The same is true for hourly workers,
who have a turnover rate of 60%, which is much lower than the national industry average.
Through benefits like its scholarship program, which provides employees with up to $25,000 in
tuition assistance, Chick-fil-A incentivizes staff to stay long-term. By investing in its
employees through programs, Chick-fil-A is seeing the bigger picture. Keeping the rate
of employee turnover low allows the company to maintain high production and low prices.
Much like its artificial rendition of ice cream, Chick-fil-A uses a similar tactic
for its cooking fat, using "butter-flavored oil" instead of authentic butter. Because real butter
tends to be pricey, finding an alternative is a good way for the company to save money — and
the taste is very similar. Chick-fil-A uses its butter-flavored oil on lots of its menu items,
including its chicken sandwiches, hash brown scramble bowls, and sausage,
egg, and cheese biscuits. But what's in this stuff, exactly?
Taking a peek at some of the nutritional labels through the menu on Chick-fil-A's website
shows its butter-flavored oil is a mix of soybean oil,
palm kernel oil, soy lecithin, natural flavor, and beta-carotene. According to Scientist Live,
beta-carotene is used extensively throughout the food industry as a food coloring. In all
likelihood, that shade of yellowish orange you spot on Chick-fil-A's food that gives
the illusion of butter is really just beta-carotene floating in oil. Using
artificial butter instead of the real stuff is clearly a calculated move to keep prices low.
"I can't believe it's not butter." When it comes to fast food, we often
believe that we're getting a better deal than we really are. For example, when you take a look at
the spicy chicken sandwich on Chick-fil-A's menu, you'll notice that the price of the sandwich is
around four bucks. For just a few more bucks, you can make the sandwich a "meal" by adding
a side and a drink. If you choose fries and a soda, as many people do, then you're really just
getting suckered out of more money in exchange for some of the restaurant's most profitable items.
According to Motley Fool, soft drinks are often sold at restaurants for up to a 90%
profit margin. French fries also rake in serious cash and can offset other costs because of their
high profit margin. Odds are, what you are paying several dollars for only cost Chick-fil-A some
spare change to serve. Because the profitability of soda and sides is so high, Chick-fil-A can
keep their meal price relatively low but still make a high percentage of profit on that sale.
In an effort to increase sales and production flow,
Chick-fil-A has made serious investments to improve its drive-thru experience for customers.
One important part of that effort is the formation of the Chick-fil-A Drive-Thru Innovation Team.
According to Chick-fil-A, the team's mission is to ensure smooth and timely transactions
throughout the drive-thru experience. In order to accomplish this, the team actually tests out
transactions with real customers at Chick-fil-A's full-scale drive-thru mockups in Atlanta.
Chick-fil-A has also invested in tablets to help team members relay orders to the kitchen,
and has constructed extra drive-thru lanes at some locations so that they have the
capacity to handle bigger crowds. By investing in better drive-thrus,
Chick-fil-A is adapting to changes in the market and producing lucrative long-term results.
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