Chick-fil-A is making an unprecedented move to win over health-conscious eaters
The chain is testing two grain bowls starting Tuesday: the Harvest Kale & Grain Bowl and the Egg White Grill Grain Bowl. It's also rolling out some new breakfast bowls featuring chicken, eggs, hash browns, and cheese.
The Harvest Kale bowl features red quinoa, white quinoa, farro, roasted butternut squash, diced apples, and kale topped with goat cheese, feta cheese, tart dried cherries, and roasted nuts. It's served with a new light balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
The Egg White Grill Grain Bowl is a new breakfast entrée that includes the same grain blend of red quinoa, white quinoa and farro, along with scrambled egg whites, grilled chicken and a Monterey jack and cheddar cheese blend.
Chick-fil-A is the first major fast-food chain to test quinoa and farro in the US, to our knowledge.
The Harvest Kale bowl can be served with or without grilled, sliced chicken. With chicken, it's 370 calories and costs $8.19.
The grain bowls are only being offered at locations in San Francisco, Sacramento, Tampa, and Huntsville, Alabama for now. If the tests are successful, the grain bowls could roll out nationwide, the company said.
"We hope customers in the test markets think they're delicious," said David Farmer, Chick-fil-A vice president of menu strategy and development. "We can't wait to find out what they think to help determine if these items should be added to menus nationwide."
Chick-fil-A has been getting some complaints after replacing classic menu items like cole slaw and its spicy chicken biscuit with healthier dishes. The company stressed that the new grain bowls would not be replacing any of its traditional menu items, like the original chicken sandwich and waffle fries.
The new items include a Hash Brown Scramble that can be served in either a bowl or as a burrito, an Egg White Grill Bowl, and a Berry Protein Blend smoothie.
The Hash Brown Scramble features Chick-fil-A hash browns, scrambled eggs, a Monterey Jack cheddar cheese blend and a choice of sliced Chick-fil-A Nuggets or sausage. It's served with jalapeño salsa.
The Egg White Grill Bowl, also served with jalapeño salsa, has scrambled egg whites, a Monterey Jack cheddar cheese blend, sliced grilled chicken. and jalapeño salsa.
"More people are eating breakfast away from home, and we want to meet the needs of our guests by providing breakfast options that span a variety of nutritional needs, tastes and ingredients," said Matt Abercrombie, Chick-fil-A's senior consultant of menu development.