Chick-fil-A, the ever-popular American fast-food chain perhaps best known for selling what it's branded "the original chicken sandwich" is no longer focused on the chicken wars. In fact, Chick-fil-A is all in on the meat-free menu, as it debuts its first plant-based sandwich.
On February 13, customers in Charleston, Denver, and North Carolina’s Greensboro-Triad region will be able to order the new meat-free Chick-fil-A sandwich, which stars a "tender filet" of cauliflower that's been breaded and pressure-cooked to resemble Chick-fil-A's signature meal (Cauli-fil-A?).
“Cauliflower is the hero of our new sandwich, and it was inspired by our original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich,” said Leslie Neslage, director of menu and packaging at Chick-fil-A, in a statement. “Guests told us they wanted to add more vegetables into their diets, and they wanted a plant-forward entrée that tasted uniquely Chick-fil-A.”
According to Chick-fil-A, its cauliflower sandwich has been in the works "for nearly four years," as Chick-fil-A chefs "developed, tested" and "perfected" the new recipe.
That indicates that Chick-fil-A began the meat-free experiments around the time that Burger King and Dunkin added menu items made of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods' meatless alternatives.
Currently, a plethora of local restaurants and even chains like Buffalo Wild Wings offer cauliflower wings as a chicken substitute.
Given the consistent demand for Chick-fil-A's conventional chicken sandwiches, not hard to imagine a similar culture-defining buzz around the new cauliflower sandwich, assuming it tastes and feels as similar to its chicken sibling as Chick-fil-A promises.
Chick-fil-A will continue to offer chicken, of course, and it'll likely roll out the cauliflower sandwich to additional markets in line with demand.
