Chick-fil-A reveals locations of first UK restaurants

US fast food chain Chick-fil-A has announced the locations of its first permanent UK restaurants due to open early next year.

Restaurants will launch in London, Liverpool, Belfast and Leeds as the first stage of the brand’s nationwide expansion plans.

Chick-fil-A plans to invest $100m (£74m) in the UK over the next decade and is aiming to open five sites in the first two years.

It is expected that the initial expansion will create around 400 jobs at licensed and franchised restaurants.

Chick-fil-A is the third largest quick-service restaurant company in the US and runs more than 3,000 restaurants across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

The chain said it planned to bring popular menu items including its Original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich, freshly made salads, hand-breaded nuggets to the UK.

Chick-fil-A  is currently accepting expressions of interest from anyone interested in becoming an independent Chick-fil-A franchise owner-operator in the UK.

Nearly 80% of Chick-fil-A local owner-operators own only one restaurant, with an initial investment of approximately $10,000 (£7,479).

“Serving communities is at the heart of everything we do, and we look forward to bringing Chick-fil-A’s delicious food and signature hospitality to Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool and London, and continuing our long-term investment in the UK,” said Anita Costello, chief international officer at Chick-fil-A Inc.

Why did Chick-fil-A leave the UK?

This is not the first time Chick-fil-A has attempted to crack the UK market. A restaurant opened in Reading in 2019 but closed at the end of its six-month lease following protests by LGBT+ activists over historic comments made by members of its founding Cathy family opposing same-sex marriage.

At the time, Chick-fil-A told The Caterer it did not have “a social or political agenda”.

A second pop-up at the Macdonald Aviemore hotel in Scotland ran for three months until January 2020. More than 1,000 people signed a petition against its opening.

Since 2019, the company has overhauled its philanthropic policy and plans to donate £25,000 to local non-profit organisations in the UK to mark each opening. Surplus food will also be donated to food banks, shelters and soup kitchens.

It is understood Chick-fil-A’s UK restaurants will follow the US sites by closing on Sundays, a tradition started when the company’s founder opened his first restaurant in Atlanta in 1946.