A foray into South Africa in 1996 ended in 2001 when Chick-fil-A couldn’t build enough awareness of its brand, the company said. A U.K. location opened in a mall in a borough west of London in 2019 drew opposition from local gay-rights advocates. It closed several months later. Activists and some customers have criticized past statements by former Chick-fil-A Chief Executive Dan Cathy and donations by the company’s charitable foundation that they said discriminated against gay people. Anita Costello, the chain’s executive vice president for international, said the chain seeks to serve all customers in its markets, and that it takes seriously concerns raised about the company. Chick-fil-A opened its first Canadian location in Toronto in 2019 and now runs a total of eight in the country, as well as three in Puerto Rico. KFC, the Yum Brands company that operates this Shanghai restaurant, held 39% of the fast-food chicken market in Asia last year. PHOTO: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS Chick-fil-A’s planned expansion internationally could ratchet up competition among more-established international chicken competitors. In Asia, where fast-food chicken sales totaled about $33 billion last year, KFC held 39% of the market in 2022 after years of growth there, followed by Philippines-based Jollibee Foods Corp., according to research firm Euromonitor International. KFC also dominated Western Europe’s $6.1 billion fast-food chicken market in 2022, followed by South African-style Nando’s Peri-Peri, Euromonitor said. KFC parent Yum Brands Inc. told investors in December that it opened a new restaurant every two hours on average across its brands in the past two years, including thousands of KFCs, most of them outside the U.S. Restaurant Brands International Inc. said during an investor presentation last month that it is pushing Popeyes for international growth. Andrew Cathy, Chick-fil-A’s chief executive, says the company is working to develop an overseas supply chain. PHOTO: RITA HARPER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Chick-fil-A executives said they expect their global restaurants to perform similarly to their roughly 2,700 U.S. locations. The company’s U.S. restaurants averaged $6.3 million in sales in 2021 despite being closed on Sundays, roughly four times the average domestically for rivals KFC and Popeyes, according to Technomic. Chick-fil-A executives said they are looking to open restaurants in countries in Asia and Europe with stable economies, dense populations and a demand for chicken. They said they are still determining how to replicate their supply chain abroad, and will likely use local and existing U.S. suppliers, Andrew Cathy said. Chick-fil-A said it expects its international locations to serve its chicken sandwiches, waffle fries and milkshakes. The company will likely offer some local twists on its menu, but not alter it extensively, executives said. Chick-fil-A has said a simple menu helps with its operations.
