Chick-fil-A Opens in New York City

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Oct 3, 9:05AM EDT

Chick-fil-A is supposed to be a regional restaurant. Not so, based on a recent more. The fast-food chain has entered New York City. Perhaps it is a sign the chain wants to be a national one like McDonald’s.

According to Chick-fil-A:

New York City is not for the faint of heart. That goes for native New Yorkers, transplants and businesses alike. And for a business looking to create a footprint in New York City for the first time, the list of considerations, obstacles and questions can be seemingly endless.

Chick-fil-A began preparations for entering the Big Apple years ago. And now, the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in New York City – located in the Garment District at the corner of West 37th Street and 6th Avenue– will finally open on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Of course, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) has over 35,000 stores worldwide, and its recent numbers would indicate it has too many locations, including dozens in New York City. Chick-fil-A might rather it remained regional.

The chain has done its research, but on a very modest level:

After conducting small focus groups in New York City, research revealed that every element of the restaurant — from the aesthetics to customer service – would need to adapt to serve New Yorkers’ unique needs.

“This research at the beginning was key,” says Jessica Fort, Chick-fil-A urban strategy coordinator. “We interviewed six small groups in New York City, which helped lead us in the right direction and stay on task.”

New York residents played a huge part in planning for this restaurant. After focus group participants shared that they were tired of interior design with only white subway tiles and preferred more wood and natural tones instead, Chick-fil-A designers incorporated those textures. A quick and accurate ordering experience was also a must-have for New Yorkers, and the restaurant team will address that.

“There are so many places to eat in New York City, and we want to make Chick-fil-A one of the top options,” Fort says. “To do that, we are going to be as efficient as possible to best serve our guests.”

A few focus groups is a small foundation for a decision to enter America’s largest city.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.