First Look: Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Yesterday I spent the afternoon inside the Chick-fil-A sanctum sanctorum — i.e., the company headquarters — with AJC business reporter Jeremiah McWilliams. A large group from the product development, marketing and public relations teams met us in the test kitchen, where one wall was covered with a red tarp to shield it from our view. I assume it was shelving filled with proprietary seasonings and spices, though I suppose it could have been a voodoo altar with pins sticking from a Double Down.
After a thorough presentation of the company’s research and development methodology, we learned how the Spicy Chicken Sandwich came to be. This new product — which officially hits Chick-fil-A’s 1400-plus stores on June 7 — has been on the boards since 2004, and in active development since 2008.
Chick-fil-A is milking the huge anticipation for this product — long requested by customers — for everything it can get. As you’ve probably heard, customers who signed up online were able to reserve free Spicy Chicken sandwiches to be picked up at specified time slots throughout next week. Everyone else must wait. This sandwich is nothing short of the fast-food iPad.
And so, after the dog and pony show, Jeremiah and I were each given a hot-from-the-fryer, freshly prepared sandwich. I have to say that watching the sandwich being made from raw ingredients did a little to alleviate my fast-food skeeze. Though I do find it distressing that one sandwich contains 72% of the daily recommended allowance of sodium (the Spicy version is saltier than the regular one).
A chicken breast (one that is not injected with a saline solution) first goes into a spicy marinade that is shipped to the stores as a powder and diluted with water. The mix contains “a blend of fiery spices.” (I’m guessing cayenne, paprika, salt, garlic and onion.) Then the chicken is dredged in a flour coating that gets a hint of spice from visible flecks of cracked black pepper, but is otherwise mild. Finally it goes on a buttered bun with not one and not three, but two pickle slices.
So how spicy is it? Not slap-your-grandma-then-go-on-a-rampage-and-beat-up-her-bridge-club spicy, but frankly so. Enough that capsaicin fanatics won’t find it a wuss out, and enough that some chile-averse souls will not be able to eat it. What impressed me is not how spicy it is, but the kind of round spice it presents — one that doesn’t hit you at first but then blooms, peaks and leaves a brief sting. That thin, orangey layer of marinade below the breading has a delayed-action kick.
After we took bites of our Spicy Chicken sandwiches, we were next served Spicy Chicken Deluxe, which came festooned with lettuce, tomato and pepper jack cheese. (This sandwich clocks in at 580 calories and contains 78% of the daily recommended allowance of sodium.) I liked the cool vegetables against the spicy meat but, personally, would lose the cheese.
Afterward, we went into a conference room and learned about a number of other new products currently in R&D. I’ll put up another post on those soon, but let it be known that the Spicy Chicken breakfast biscuit will soon be on its way to a restaurant near you. That should be an eye opener.
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131 comments Add your comment
Jeff
May 27th, 2010
1:21 pm
GT tom (12:07 p.m.) is right, Kessler is a complete tool… he is pretentious, condescending, arrogant, and a complete clown. He has shown disdain for any kind of normal, non-froo-froo restaurant, he hates quick-service and fast-food restaurants, and he hates any type of traditional Southern food. What’s to like about this guy? He is a JOKE and most of Atlanta knows it… i have a friend at a very exclusive restaurant in Midtown and he said everyone in the food community snickers at Kessler because he IS such a tool.
Jeff
May 27th, 2010
1:25 pm
And Andre (12:13 p.m.) said Kessler writes “great articles”… can you please tell me WHERE? Certainly not for the AJC. He is a food snob, he hates every normal restaurant in the state of Georgia, he makes no bones about his hatred of Southern food, and he is overly pretentious and completely stuck on himself, thinking he is God’s gift to food. Tell me exactly how ANY of that makes him great?
99% of us could make perfectly fine restaurant and food choices on our OWN without this clown, thank you very much. Kessler’s a joke and he’s lucky to have a job.
Davo
May 27th, 2010
1:25 pm
Perhaps ‘Team Kessler’ can persuade him to stick a picture of Mohammad in a pork sandwich? Then I’ll take back the fact that I call him a coward.
LiasMom
May 27th, 2010
1:26 pm
Chris, they probably don’t have two breading and milkwash stations. They probably marinate it first and then use the same breading as the regular sandwich. Just the same way that they marinate the chicken before putting it on the grill for the chargrilled sandwich. So, they would just have two stacks of marinating buckets in the ‘fridge (at least, that’s they way they did the chargrill when it first came out and I worked there — back when we made potato salad, Chick-n-Q, and fresh donuts every morning, too, and those annoying grilled tenderloins, too).
Also, I worked a CFA for 4 years and was never in a prayer meeting — and they still gave me my scholarship when I hit enough hours!
Puerquito
May 27th, 2010
1:27 pm
Tool or not. Atlanta has a wicked case of CFA goggles. It ain’t that great.
LydiasDad
May 27th, 2010
1:29 pm
Dang. Now I want a CFA sandwich.
Jeff
May 27th, 2010
1:31 pm
What would you recommend Puerquito? I think CFA is great — best chicken in the market. Compare it to Mrs. Winners, Bojangles, Zaxby’s, and any offering from a burger chain… CFA wins hands-down. And KFC is not even close… KFC’s restaurants are so inefficient, its staff so poorly trained, and its management so inept, it can’t even compare.
CFA has a great businss model, high standards, quality people and good food. It’s not going to win five stars and be enshrined in the food hall of fame, but it’s a good, fairly healthy quick-service meal all things considered. I’ll take a chargrilled sandwich and salad and lemonade any day of the week over a greasy Wendy’s double and un-inspiring fries.
59bulldawg
May 27th, 2010
1:33 pm
Without a doubt they are hands down the best run fast food restaurants in the U.S. Clean, courteous, and really good food . . .
JATL
May 27th, 2010
1:36 pm
CFA is NOT a cult or an overtly Christian place to work (at least in most of the stores -I have heard it can be very Christian to work in the corporate offices). In fact, being someone who was a hard-partying teenager and still loves to drink and do a number of “non-evangelically Christian” activities, I admire Truett Cathy for operating an incredibly successful company based on HIS beliefs without being offensive or holier-than-thou. I worked for Chick-fil-A for two years as a teenager with a bunch of other wild teens, but we knew how to show up, do our jobs and be nice to customers. THAT is what makes CFA run so well -not only is the expectation there, but you better meet it! I’ve worked in places with a bunch of Jesus-freaks who were holier-than-thou a-holes -and CFA is NOT that way. And dang -they make the best chicken sandwich on earth!
Rob in ATL
May 27th, 2010
1:38 pm
Does it contain 78% of the daily recommended intake of sodium? I don’t think that was clear in the article.
WCMIII
May 27th, 2010
1:45 pm
I Love CFA. The CFA concept and values of Mr. Cathy and his team are wonderful. However, it would be so nice if instead of the sign that tells you how many people they served that hour, they took the signs down, served 2 or 3 less people per hour and actually got a order correct occasionally. But I admire their values so much that I’ll keep drinking regular coke instead of diet and my sandwich grilled instead of fried, etc.
Joanne
May 27th, 2010
1:49 pm
Did you say drop the cheese?
Brian
May 27th, 2010
1:51 pm
Looking forward to my test sammy.
Love John’s blog – I check it throughout the day. Entertaining, informative, and well written. I appreciate it being here and think John is a great blogger!
John Kessler
May 27th, 2010
1:54 pm
Things are getting spicy around here….okay I’m off to stick a voodoo pin into an effigy of the Big Haired Lady….
jimmy
May 27th, 2010
2:33 pm
@Jeff – I had a good laugh at the “snickering” comment. I imagine all the wait staff running to the corner, wringing their hands, and letting out little laughs, “look at him! he he he, look at him, he think’s he is so much better than us! Mooo ha ha ha ha ha!!!!”
Jeff
May 27th, 2010
2:36 pm
Brian — did you fall off your roof? Kessler is “entertaining, informative and well-written?” A hungry monkey could do a better job than he does.
I will repeat my point — Kessler is ALWAYS arrogant, condescending, pretentious and overly critical. He rarely has ANYTHING good to say about any “normal” restaurant, and by that I mean one that the majority of us in the middle class can afford. Maybe these 10-star fancy-shmancy places are exquisite, but we can’t feed a family of four there without taking out a second mortgage.
Kessler is a food snob, pure and simple, and he’s also a Yankee who detests Southern food and Southern culture. He should go write his drivel for a paper in Boston or Philly or New Yuck.
Jeff
May 27th, 2010
2:38 pm
Thanks jimmy… it may not be THAT dramatic, but I do know that my source said a lot of people in the restaurant community roll their eyes when ol’ Kessler shows up to write some astonishing, original, highly enlightened review (rolls eyes). They all think he’s a joke… I just don’t know why all his devoted “fans” on here can’t see that. He’s as arrogant as the day is long, and I hear that people in the Atlanta restaurant community “put up” with him rather than respect him.
Pete
May 27th, 2010
2:41 pm
Big fan of CFA and looking forward to the spicy sandwich…but I don’t care what they eventually put on what everyone knows is THE WORST BREAKFAST BISCUIT in the industry, it won’t help until somebody teaches them how to make a REAL BUTTERMILK BUSCUIT.
Inside the Chick-fil-a test kitchen | Food and More with John Kessler
May 27th, 2010
2:43 pm
[...] sampling the new Spicy Chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-a headquarters yesterday, the company’s vice president of brand development, [...]
Gene
May 27th, 2010
3:11 pm
I for one also think Kessler is a tool and also prove that you would be better off not reading anything he writes, by coming to this blog, read all of what he writes and then drilling the point home with machine-gun commenting on all of his posts.
I also have had firsthand experience with John’s toolness-ness by having dined with him from time to time and can COMPLETELY confirm that most all restaurant staff goes into complete eye-rolling mania and that waiters and waitresses DO bitch, moan and point at the high-on-his-horse “King AJC Diner”.
I also can confirm that I have seen confetti fall and champagne bottles being pop open once he finally exits the restaurant as well. Or that could have been a coinciding wedding rehearsal dinner. I forget.
Steven A.
May 27th, 2010
3:17 pm
Jeff, I hope you realize that in your ongoing diatribes, you’ve revealed yourself to be 10 times as ignorant, judgmental, and intolerant as you accuse Mr. Kessler of being. Way to represent!
John Kessler
May 27th, 2010
3:18 pm
Toolness-ness? Wonder if I can Ryobi to sponsor this blog?
Hilary
May 27th, 2010
3:19 pm
Wow, weighing in twice in one day. @Jeff, I’m restaurant people and we don’t snicker. We pander. (joke, joke) Generalizations always (pun intended) get you in trouble. I’m even wondering if we’re all reading the same blog?? You know you don’t have to read it. There’s a little x button either on your left or right – depending on what type of computer you’re on – and a little click on it will alleviate all your suffering. I’m feeling stressed for you. One small point – critics critique – see how the words are similar? That could be arrogance I suppose or it could be being a critic. Ask people on yelp – talk about harsh reviews! CFA certainly has some Southern draw-uhs in a twist. Can’t wait to see the debate their next release creates.
East Lake Ira
May 27th, 2010
3:57 pm
Jeff used to be my neighbor.
Everyone used to laugh at him behind his back and to his face due to his thin-skinned victim routine about everything.
Jeff was then and continues to be mocked by everyone that knows him.
And he worships a vengeful ghost to boot!
nobody calls me chicken
May 27th, 2010
4:31 pm
There are no reservations available anywhere in Atlanta.
Are they selling them on e-bay yet?
JCB
May 27th, 2010
4:32 pm
How ’bout the spicy nuggets for those of us who don’t/won’t eat a filet sandwich?? (78% daily allowance of sodium!). Please use your influence to get R&D to release that menu item soon!
Phil
May 27th, 2010
4:34 pm
Chris and LiasMom,
Definitely 2 milkwash stations so that the spicy flavor doesn’t transfer to other products. Also, 1 dedicated fryer, again so that the flavor doesn’t transfer. And yes 2 separate coaters, one regular and one spicy. The marinade buckets aren’t used any longer. Marinating is done before it arrives at the unit…everything else is still done in unit.
Gene
May 27th, 2010
4:35 pm
Toolness-ness might have to be my official submission into the Urban Dictionary. Toolish-ness is already there as: An act of extreme toolitude.
Toolness-ness: A person that can be characterized of having extreme toolitude.
Where are the ryobi ads? I must click on one.
MJ
May 27th, 2010
4:39 pm
The problem with chick-fi-la is that is so addictive! And then you wake up and its Sunday…. I now know what Socrates is referring to when he mentions the “Human Struggle.”
@Publik – That is HILARIOUS and oh so TRUE!! Thanks for the laugh!
annoying
May 27th, 2010
4:48 pm
its so annoying when someone comments 1st or 2nd.. and then doesnt even make a comment about the article.. idiots galore out there i suppose..
cant wait for the spice chick sand.. and hope they have it on nuggets
MSG Mike
May 27th, 2010
5:03 pm
Like other CFA sandwiches, does the spicy sandwich have MSG?
Gram
May 27th, 2010
5:16 pm
I just had heart bypass surgery a month ago, so that’s too much salt for me. CFA needs to think of the health of their patrons before going hog-wild with the salt/spices. Maybe they could make a low-sodium one for us…ya think?
Bessie
May 27th, 2010
5:19 pm
Mooooooooooo! Mooooooooooooo!
Ben
May 27th, 2010
5:23 pm
I should’ve bought stock in this company when I first started eating it in the early 80’s.
If this new sandwich is anywhere to the quality of the milkshakes they introduced a few years ago I may be in trouble (and hitting extra miles on the treadmill).
First Look: Chick-fil-a Spicy Chicken Sandwich « Leavin' Atlanta
May 27th, 2010
5:33 pm
[...] Posted by katierigby in Uncategorized. Leave a Comment First Look: Chick-fil-a Spicy Chicken Sandwich [...]
Liz
May 27th, 2010
5:34 pm
They introduced the Spicy Chicken Biscuit here in Jacksonville (apparently we’re a great “test” market due to our demographics). They were giving away free ones with every breakfast purchase a couple weekends a moth. Delicious…if you like “spicy” things (wings, etc.), you’ll enjoy the new sandwich and biscuit!
Ben
May 27th, 2010
5:38 pm
These sandwiches are awesome. I love the spicy chicken from Wendy’s, but once they are available here, I’ll never go to Wendy’s again (except maybe on Sunday).
I had this when I was in DC a few months ago, and my mouth has been watering for another one ever since…. I know what I’m having for lunch on 6/7…
N-GA
May 27th, 2010
5:46 pm
John – It goes without saying that most Americans have limited exposure to fine food. I lived in Europe (off-and-on) for more than 7 years, and continue to travel there regularly. Fast food in Montmartre or the covered bazaar in Istanbul is a lot different than what is available here. Unfortunately “civilization” is catching up over there. Keep on trying to inform your readers. You can’t win them all over, but you are helping many broaden their horizons.
Fred
May 27th, 2010
5:56 pm
Odd. I seemed to have missed the fast food bashing by John. I guess that’s because I read the BLACK parts and don’t add stuff in. One CAN dislike a particular type of food without ‘bashing’ it. I finished this article with the distinct impression that John found the new spicy chicken sandwich tasty. How in the world someone got that he was bashing them for their faith, I’ll never know. I don’t even want to know who someone stretched that far to reach that conclusion. Just damn.
Yo John, about the sodium thing. I noticed in your article on 20 high sodium products that SPICY V8 was included. Here in this article the SPICY chicken is high in sodium. Is there a culinary reason why more sodium (salt) is included with hot spice or am I drawing a conclusion on too little data? I don’t add more salt to something when I add heat when I’m cooking. Chil or salsa for instance. I make mild and spicy the same way except that when I want it hotter, I add more cayenne or jalapeno. I don’t increase salt content.
chickenman
May 27th, 2010
6:02 pm
ok first thing the chicken comes in already marinated from a distributer like claxton or perdue it is not sent out to stores to be marinated.. the chargrills used to be marinated on site but have not been for a few years.. the biscuits are not frizen but they are water added and yes they need help.. the new sandwich is excellent it beats wendys by far and the pepperjack cheese makes it AWESOME. Also..just to answer questions the are not 2 breading stations but one divided one the seasoned coater is different and the comitment from CFA to roll this out was very costly because they put a new piece of cooking equipment in every location that is for spicy only to avoid cross contamination of spices with the original.
LAL
May 27th, 2010
6:42 pm
@ Jeff. What is wrong with you?
Marcia
May 27th, 2010
7:36 pm
Wow. A review about a sandwich certainly does bring out the nastiness in some people.
I have mine reserved. Looking forward to it.
Thanks for the heads up about the sodium content. That shouldn’t really be a surprise, though.
jodie
May 27th, 2010
7:36 pm
forget the spicy chicken sammich; just add cream gravy to the menu and not just at breakfast, ALL the time, to dip my chicken nuggets in. Guaranteed best seller.
Sp Ed Teacher
May 27th, 2010
7:44 pm
I have a reservation for Monday lunch time; and while others might go and try to get one–it is FREE with a reservation. I had dinner at Truett’s this evening; the last of the yellow receipts from Customer Appreciation Day. I had a steak dinner and the most wonderful service; free meal too.
If I don’t like the spicy sandwich, I will see if my cat does; she loves Chick fil A nuggets.
Luv 2 Hate Me
May 27th, 2010
7:59 pm
All I have to say is HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.
LizDawg
May 27th, 2010
8:59 pm
Looking forward to trying Mor Spicy Chik-N.
30-24
C
May 27th, 2010
10:30 pm
which version bible does this thing come with anyway?
LindaK
May 27th, 2010
10:44 pm
@ Jeff: pretentious and disdain for non-froo-froo restaurants? Did you miss all the articles about restaurants on Buford highway? It doesn’t get much more unpretentious than that. And as to not liking southern food, did you miss the New Orleans trip – that didn’t seem to be overly critical to me. He covers plenty of restaurants that aren’t white tablecloth (guess you missed Agora too) and aren’t run of the mill, found by the highway chains. If this blog aggravates you that much, find another hobby, please!
Winger
May 27th, 2010
10:45 pm
Bojangles already has a spicy chicken biscuit, the Cajun Fillet. And the Cajun Fillet sandwich has about half the sodium of the Chick-Fil-A spicy sandwich.
Jeff
May 28th, 2010
1:12 am
Hi Steven 3:17 p.m. — yeah, thanks for the support, buddy. The fact that I don’t put up with pretentious, condescending, know-it-alls like Kessler doesn’t make me ignorant at all… quite the opposite, I’m a heckuva lot smarter than you… you actually BUY INTO his lame, Yankee, food-snob BS. You must enjoy dating a guy like Kessler… free meals all the time.
Hilary… yes, I know that I can click off any time… it just amazes me that so many people in the Atlanta community think Kessler is a joke, yet he still has a job. Time for Atlanta to wake up and run him out of town. Oh, and I KNOW critics critique… but you’re supposed to be FAIR. He fawns all over these obscure, small, “out there” restaurants that mysteriously close within 6 months… but some successful places to nosh, places that have built a strong following for years, he either pans them as “simple” or ignores them all together. So, yes, Kessler is a tool.
And Ira… bless your heart dear! Good to see you again… how was rehab?
Sad to say, Ira, you are completely wrong (yet again)… You don’t know me, haven’t a clue where I live, and you’ve never been my neighbor… and I’m quite the tolerant person, actually… I tolerate any intelligent, reasonable person who can debate things based on facts and who doesn’t cop an attitude… the second you pull out the pretentious snob card, you’re dead to me and have no significant contributions to make to a discussion.
Have a great night Ira… see you in the funny papers!