While the furor over reduced milkshake sizes was spurred somewhat by surprise, Chick-fil-A has been quite open about its intentions since it announced a test menu for Charlotte, North Carolina, and Arizona in January 2020.
In a press release marking the plan, they explained why they would reduce all milkshake orders to 16 ounces in a clear cup: “Our goal is to serve quality food as efficiently as possible.” Restaurant Dive expanded on this thought, talking about how the simplified menu would reduce back-of-house clogging.
Since Chick-fil-A took a year to decide whether they would continue with the new menus, it seems likely that the results of the test markets pleased them. This, in fact, is what a few people strode into the Reddit comments to point out. Apparently, according to one user, this new menu was met with 95 percent satisfaction from both workers and consumers as it allowed the workers to make more milkshakes at a quicker pace and meant that consumers would order a separate item to compensate for the lack of milkshake (via Reddit).
So, rather than following through on an unprompted disaster, Chick-fil-A seems secure in its move towards a more efficient fast food menu, better optimized for the increased emphasis on drive-thru dining.
