Daybright logo.
Chick-fil-A officially entered the fast-food specialty coffee race with Daybright, a new cafe concept that opened Thursday west of Atlanta.
While coffee for the new brand comes from longtime Chick-fil-A supplier Thrive Farmers, a B Corp-certified company, the rest of the menu notably departs from that of the fast-chicken giant.
The prototype Daybright store in Hiram, Georgia, was developed by Red Wagon Ventures, Chick-fil-A’s innovation arm, as a separate brand. Chick-fil-A is based in suburban Atlanta.
Daybright keeps the chain’s operating DNA — including dual drive-through lanes, a dining room, all-day hours and closing on Sundays — but the menu looks more like that of a modern coffee bar.
The shop offers numerous cold-brew-based drinks, flavored lattes and three “protein coffees,” plus nondairy milks, cold foam and syrup add-ons alongside a traditional specialty coffee menu with drip brews and espresso-based drinks. Other beverages include smoothies, sparkling fizzes, teas and bottled pressed juices.
The shop also offers a lineup of baked doughnuts, breakfast sandwiches, stuffed English muffins and a burrito.
With the tagline “good to go” and the promise of “real, simple ingredients,” Daybright may represent the purest specialty-cafe-esque concept to emerge from a national fast-food purveyor.
The concept might be more in league with chains like 7 Brew, Starbucks, Scooter’s Coffee or Caribou Coffee than with broader beverage-focused fast-food spinoffs like McDonald’s CosMc’s or Taco Bell’s Live Más Café.
Neither Chick-fil-A nor operating subsidiary Red Wagon Ventures — which was launched in 2017 and also operates Chick-fil-A’s Little Blue Menu concept restaurant in Maryland — have announced whether more Daybright locations are planned.
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Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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