Chick-fil-A Tenant Overview

Tenant Description

Chick-fil-A, Inc. is the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States, based on domestic annual sales. Supported by a strong brand and award-winning restaurant design and architecture, the family-owned, privately-held company is strategically expanding and uniquely positioned for continued future growth.

Chick-fil-A is notorious for having strong franchised restaurant operators, proven by the fact that Chick-fil-A maintains a franchisee turnover rate of less than 5% per year. The company only accepts about 0.4% of the applicants who apply every year. For net lease investors, it is reassuring to know that Chick-fil-A NNN leases have a corporate guarantee by Chick-fil-A, Inc.

When purchasing a Chick-fil-A ground-leased property, investors are buying the real estate upon which the Chick-fil-A restaurant sits. These ground-leased properties provide additional investment security given the nature of the real estate investment made by Chick-fil-A's real estate team, which generally pays for the design, construction, and equipment for all new stores. Finally, from a real estate fundamentals perspective, knowing that store locations and developments are chosen based on corporate goals for target markets; it is not surprising that new stores are typically located in high-traffic areas and are often found as outparcel/pad sites at major shopping centers.

Ever since Truett Cathy invented the chicken sandwich in 1964, the name Chick-Fil-A has become as synonymous with Atlanta as Coca-Cola. The chicken sandwich recipe has remained relatively unchanged: a hand-breaded chicken breast stuffed in a soft buttered bun and garnished with a couple of pickle chips. Cathy sold it for less than a buck at his Dwarf House in Hapeville, a place so small it had only 10 stools and four tables. The first Chick-fil-A restaurant arrived in 1967, and today the fast-chicken giant boasts more than 2,300 locations in 47 states and Washington, DC.