Chick-fil-A fans are so extreme that the chain can't even take a side salad off its menu without fans freaking out

• Chick-fil-A is keeping its side salad on the menu "at participating locations," the chain said.
• Fans said the salad was a key reason they kept visiting the fried chicken restaurant.

The latest change at Chick-fil-A isn't about a chicken sandwich or free food — it's about a side salad.

The fast-food chain is reversing course and keeping the salad on its menu, the restaurant chain said on Friday. In March, Chick-fil-A said that it planned to stop serving the side salad in an effort to streamline its menu.

"In an effort to simplify and refresh our menu, we made the difficult decision to remove the Side Salad from our menus earlier this month," the chain said. "However, based on feedback, we've chosen to continue serving the Side Salad at participating restaurant locations."

A Chick-fil-A spokeswoman told Insider that "participating locations" means "the locations that are currently serving the side salad will continue to serve them."

The salad is one of the most unassuming items on Chick-fil-A's menu. It consists of "fresh bed of mixed greens" with two kinds of cheese, grape tomatoes, charred tomatoes, red bell peppers, and dressing, according to the restaurant chain's website.

But fans made their appreciation for the salad clear on social media after Chick-fil-A announced that it would be discontinued.

One Chick-fil-A restaurant in Georgia posted about the salad's ouster on Facebook, which attracted commenters who were unhappy with the move.

"A lot of people eat that salad with nuggets," one commenter wrote.

"I go to CFA much less frequently since you took my beloved coleslaw off your menu," another wrote.
When I do go, I order a side salad with my chicken sandwich. If you ditch the salad, you'll lose me entirely."

It's not the first time that fans of a fast-food restaurant have gotten credit for bringing a menu item back.

Last year, Taco Bell brought back the Mexican pizza to its menu after a two-year hiatus. The chain had eliminated the pizza and several other items to make way for new ones in 2020.

But the item returned to menus after fans showed interest, from posting TikTok videos asking for its return to creating recipes that mimic the dish. When the Mexican pizza returned in May, it sold out, prompting Taco Bell to pull it again temporarily to source enough ingredients to meet demand.

Last fall, KFC said it would bring back wraps that combined its chicken with coleslaw and mac and cheese in a pilot after roughly a decade of fans asking for them. The chain has since rolled out the wraps to all its US stores.

Fast-food chains regularly remove items with less demand from their menu. In 2020, chains like McDonald's offered a limited menu to streamline operations in the early months of the pandemic.