The last time Chick-fil-A introduced a grilled chicken sandwich was back in 2019, when the Spicy Grilled Deluxe made its menu debut.
“Customers know and love our grilled entrees and we’re looking to grow the category by leveraging our core grilled filet with new fresh flavors that offer our guests more variety,” said Christy Cook, chef at Chick-fil-A.
Toward that end, she developed the new Maple Pepper Bacon Sandwich. It starts with that aforementioned grilled chicken filet then is topped with pepper jack cheese, green leaf lettuce, sweet and spicy pickle chips and bacon tossed with brown sugar and pepper. In place of the usual bun, Cook opted for a maple brioche bun.
The Original Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A’s most-ordered entree of 2022, is based on a breaded filet. While the grilled filet is not more labor-intensive, it requires a different approach, she added. The chicken is marinated in a blend of sea salt, lemon, garlic and herbs and cooked on a proprietary grill. “The primary differences fall within the marination step, the equipment and holding pattern,” said Cook.
Crafting the building blocks
Even though a new grilled sandwich hasn’t hit the menu in four years, Chick-fil-A has seen a lot of excitement around the return of the Spicy Grilled Deluxe and Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich, another seasonal grilled offering.
To create that same excitement, Cook played around with some new components. She sourced sweet-heat pickle chips, a brand-new new pickle SKU. The original chicken sandwich and its spicy version use classic pickle chips. “The sweet and spicy pickles add a bright, crisp crunch with just the right amount of heat,” Cook said.
The cheese, lettuce and bacon were already in-house, but the chef took the bacon up a flavor notch or two. “We use our existing bacon and toss it in a blend of brown sugar and pepper before it’s cooked,” she explained.
The maple brioche bun is an entirely new SKU, inspired by one of Cook’s favorite summertime flavors. “I was passionate about the maple flavor because there’s something special about how the maple works with smoky, savory flavors, like our grilled chicken,” she said. “We worked with our suppler to create an artisanal-style brioche bun with real maple incorporated throughout the dough, so it adds a sweet note, while the bacon adds a salty and savory element and the cheese, creaminess and spiciness.”
The bun was developed in partnership with a local bakery outside of Chicago.
Chick-fil-A conducted a consumer taste test on the sandwich before it rolled out in a two-market test to stores earlier in June. “The Maple Pepper Bacon Sandwich was our highest performing offering,” said Cook. “No ingredients or changes were needed after the taste test.”
Once the market test concludes later this summer, the new sandwich has the potential to return as an LTO, like its grilled chicken predecessors. And while Cook wouldn’t commit to saying there were more grilled chicken sandwiches in the works, it seems that both customers and Chick-fil-A want to keep them coming.