Chicfila Supply Chain

Thomas P

December 01, 2011

Principles of Supply Chain Management

Project

Eat Mor Chikin

Eat mor Chikin. The misspelled musings of cows pushing the idea of eating more chicken and less beef is a wildly clever advertising campaign of Chick-Fil-A. Chick-fil-A is a Georgia based business with 1540 locations across 39 states and four restaurants in South Africa whose goal is to be “Be America's Best Quick-Service Restaurant” (Chick-fil-A Inc., 2011). In 1964, before the first restaurant opened, they had already placed themselves in contention for that title with the invention of the chicken sandwich. Three years later the first Chick-fil-A opened its doors. “Since the first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in 1967, the company has posted 43 consecutive annual sales increases and reached $3.58 billion in sales in 2010 for an 11.37 percent increase over the previous year; same-store sales increased 5.62 percent over 2009” (Chick-fil-A Inc., 2011). A major reason they have been so successful is because they have become experts in supply chain management. This paper will focus on the Chick-fil-A supply chain from start to finish with emphasis on a Fresno, California location.

In May of 2000, Chick-fil-A announced the decision to change distributors for its entire chain of almost 1000 locations. One month later Chick-fil-A left AmeriServe food distribution, Inc, and joined forces with the MBM (MeadowBrook Meats) Corporation (QSR Magazine, 2000). Founded in 1947, MBM is one of the nation's largest customized foodservice distributors for national restaurant chains. They service chains such as Burger King, Arby’s, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden to name a few. MBM does not manufacture the product, rather it receives goods form manufacturers like Tyson, Kraft and Heinz then distributes them to Chick-fil-A locations as ordered. Chick-fil-A also uses local vendors for their breads and fresh produce. For example, the Fresno California store orders its...