Topline
Chick-fil-A appears to be venturing into the streaming market, as it looks to hire a producer for a new entertainment app that will offer original programming unrelated to the fast food chainâs brand or products.
Key Facts
The âsoon-to-be launchedâ PLAY app was revealed in a job listing for an âEntertainment Producerâ first found on the companyâs website by Tennessee TV station WVLT.
The app promises to offer original entertainment ânot necessarily about Chick-fil-A products or the Chick-fil-A brand,â according to the job listing.
The app will likely have a family-friendly focus, and âmay include scripted podcasts and audio adventures, original animation, reality and game shows, and other live-action scripted or non-scripted programming,â according to the job listing.
The company is looking for a producer with five to six years of experience as a showrunner or head writer in various forms of entertainmentâfrom game shows to kids series.
Forbes has reached out to Chick-fil-A for comment.
What We Donât Know
The company has not announced a launch dateâor much else. Outside of the job listing, Chick-fil-A has not made any formal announcement about PLAY.
Key Background
Chick-fil-A, owned by the Atlanta-based Cathy family and best known for its fried chicken sandwiches, has experimented with several new entertainment ventures in recent years. Since 2019, the company has released an annual animated film for the holidays. And just this year, under the leadership of CEO Andrew Cathy, who took the reins in 2021, Chick-fil-A started manufacturing childrenâs puzzles and games under the new Pennycake brand. But while details are sparse, Chick-fil-Aâs new service would enter a saturated, highly competitive streaming industry facing mounting challenges like tough-to-predict subscriber growth and shaky profit margins. Itâs also not the only company seeking to expand its brand into the entertainment industryâtoy companies like Mattel and Hasbro, for instance, both saw success with blockbuster movies Barbie and Dungeons & Dragons.
Tangent
The chain has at times had a complicated image. Its charitable foundation has faced scrutiny for donations to groups criticized for being anti-LGBTQ. And former CEO Dan Cathy faced criticism for his past comments opposing same-sex marriage. But in 2019, the companyâs charitable arm, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, announced it was stopping its controversial donations, and would instead focus its charitable efforts on a smaller number of organizations dealing with homelessness, hunger and education. That decision drew the ire of some conservative pundits.