Here’s What We Thought Of Chick-fil-A’s New Mobile App

There’s no doubt that Chick-fil-A fans everywhere celebrated when the fast food chain released their first ever app.

The app, called Chick-fil-A One, was created so you can pre-order your food and therefore avoid the crowds that tend to congregate inside most Chick-fil-A locations, especially during rush hours like lunch and dinner.

To put one of my favorite restaurant chains to the test, I brought my fiancee to our local Chick-fil-A during our mutual lunch hour — the one condition being that he would use the drive-thru as per usual and I would try ordering through the Chick-fil-A One app. Here’s what happened.

When I went to download the app, I was surprised to see that it had a mediocre three-star rating. Despite a couple disappointing reviews, I downloaded the free app to my iPhone 6S and started to explore it as we began our drive to Chick-fil-A.

Overall, the app was pretty user friendly. On your homepage is your personal profile, your “Treats” (which I’ll mention in a moment), your orders, and the ability to find your nearest Chick-fil-A location.

Finding the nearest Chick-fil-A was simple enough with a handy GPS locator. Once you chose a location, there were interesting and helpful features on the page, like a recorded message from the manager of your selected Chick-fil-A, reviews, directions, and hours.

One of the things I really liked was the “Treats” aspect of the app. Right on your homepage, there’s a section where you’re allotted coupons for free Chick-fil-A treats and entrees. The more frequently you use the app, the more “Treats” you’re gifted.

Navigating the ordering aspect of the app wasn’t as straightforward as I was hoping. To be fair, part of my struggle to place my online order may have just been my general ineptness with technology. Nevertheless, it took me the full five minute drive to select my meal of choice (chicken tenders and a side salad).

Undeterred by my initial struggle, I ended up placing my order without a problem; I submitted the order via the One app just as my fiancee got into the drive-thru line. All I had to do was select a button on the app that let the employees know I had arrived before going inside to the “Pick Up” line. And, for posterity, my fiancee and I both turned on our stopwatches to see how long it really took each of us to get our food.

Despite there being three or four people in front of me, I was immediately greeted as I got into line — by name of course, because it’s Chick-fil-A.

I swear, it happened so much faster than I could keep up with. Between alerting them that I had arrived, walking in, and waiting for my meal to be completed, it took about three minutes and 48 seconds. Damn.

Best of all, when I walked back outside with food in hand, my fiancee was in the same exact spot in the drive-thru line. No word of lie. Waiting in the normal line, ordering food, and waiting for his chicken tenders and side salad took my fiance about 13 minutes and 58 seconds.

Moral of the story: I got to enjoy my delicious Chick-fil-A chicken fingers ten minutes faster than he did by using the app.

Chick-fil-A One is available for both Apple and Android phones, and can be found in the App Store and the Google Play store for those respective phones. The app is easily accessible,  free to download, fairly easy to use, and was basically a skip-the-line pass during the lunch hour rush. I would highly recommend this download to any lovers of Chick-fil-A.