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Chick-fil-A is stepping into the world of entertainment–and joining the streaming wars with the company’s first-ever attempt at becoming a producer of family-friendly short films, animation, original series, and other shows. And let’s just say if the company is able to do for entertainment what it did for the chicken sandwich, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, and other streaming entities better bring their A-game to the competition.
But don’t worry; no one’s trading in the chicken sandwich for the bright lights of Hollywood.
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Credit: Chick-fil-A/Canva
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, owned by the wealthy Cathy family, is stepping into the world of entertainment and trying its hand at offering family-friendly films, animation, and other projects that will be available to stream in a brand-new app called PLAY. The new project will include the development and distribution of content that is appropriate for kids and families and serves as a means for bringing family members together.
Not Chick-fil-A’s First Rodeo
And though the PLAY app and its associated content will be the largest undertaking Chick-fil-A has ever taken in the entertainment world, it’s hardly the company’s first go at short films.
Credit: Chick-fil-A
Recently, the company released the latest installment of its animated short series, Stories of Evergreen Hills. The series is set in a place described as “a fantastical animated universe where kindness is more than a mere friendly gesture. It’s the central purpose of the world and the mission of its heroes.”
The short film is available for viewing now by clicking here.
Chick-fil-A Goes Hollywood
According to Chick-fil-A’s official website, the company, which has long called itself the “home of the chicken sandwich,” is stepping into the entertainment realm, and they’re set on bringing in professionals to create and produce original entertainment, but this is no marketing project involving new ways to utilize the franchise’s trademark black and white cows.
Credit: Chick-fil-A
Rather, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company has plans to step into the entertainment arena with a brand-new app called PLAY.
As of the time of this publication, Chick-fil-A’s new entertainment endeavor is set to include the creative production of original shows–both scripted and unscripted, as well as scripted podcasts and “audio adventures,” reality and game shows, and other live-action scripted or non-scripted programming.
Chick-fil-A is even looking to step further into the world of animation as part of the roll-out of the company’s new entertainment endeavor. The company’s entertainment offerings will include new series that–once greenlit for production–will be the work of an Entertainment Producer and Chick-fil-A’s Entertainment Creative Director.
Credit: Flickr/Mark Turnauckers
Entertainment With a Purpose
The chicken sandwich company is looking to create, produce, and distribute entertainment content that meets three goals:
- to provide connection by giving families a good reason to come together
- to show caring by “fueling moments of kindness and optimism”
- to provide a sense of community by fostering conversation, activity, and life outside of laptops and smartphones
Currently, Chick-fil-A is avidly seeking candidates for the role of Entertainment Producer, and the best candidates will be described in the following terms:
- Self-starter: able to initiate and cultivate new ideas
- Steward: able to invest wisely with an eye always toward business impact
- Shepherd: able to harmonize the fragile balance between inspiration and execution
- Student: of entertainment, trends, and audiences
- Teammate: working well in both independent and team settings
- Capacity: high workload capability and strong results orientation
- Creative: able to identify creative excellence in all points of production as well as provide direction when received work does not meet a high standard of creative excellence
Credit: Chick-fil-A/Canva
The Entertainment Producer will be tasked with partnering with production entities and various content creators who are responsible for producing material for podcasts, live-action scripted video entertainment, animation, game shows, reality shows, and non-scripted offerings for the Chick-fil-A app, PLAY.
Chick-fil-A’s creative teams will be comprised of writers, studios, agencies, audio designers, actors, casting directors, artists, showrunners, and other professionals and professional entities. And the company has a specific vision in mind:
“The Chick-fil-A brand has a very specific and nuanced approach, and content will need to be carefully and thoughtfully brought to life in such a way that audiences both internal and external can quickly say, ‘That feels like Chick-fil-A.'”
A New Competitor Joins the Ranks
At this time, there’s no mention of Chick-fil-A’s plans for the availability of its streaming content on television.
Rather, the PLAY app will serve as the platform for streaming Chick-fil-A’s entertainment content, which won’t necessarily be centered around Chick-fil-A at all. The company’s current goals include content geared toward the family, and as such, it will be interesting to see what level of competition Chick-fil-A is able to give Disney+ and other streamers.
The first Chick-fil-A restaurant, located in Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta, Georgia (1967)/Credit: Chick-fil-A
And while the idea of Chick-fil-A becoming a competitor of some of the major streamers might sound a bit far-fetched, it’s important to remember that when the first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in Georgia in 1967, the idea of a restaurant that served only chicken sandwiches–and no burgers–seemed borderline ludicrous. Today, however, more than 56 years later, Chick-fil-A has become a household name and has expanded to include more than 3,000 restaurants in 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
In 2020 alone, the chicken sandwich chain reported nearly $13 billion in sales. And from 2010 to 2018, Chick-fil-A experienced a 15% annual growth. During the same time span, the restaurant industry as a whole only saw growth increases of 3.4%. As of today, Chick-fil-A’s only true competitor is burger chain McDonald’s.
This post is originally appeared on Disney Dining.
