Chick-fil-A is ramping up its international expansion, opening its first location in the UK
- Chick-fil-A opened its first location in the UK on Thursday, with a new restaurant in England.
- With the new location, Chick-fil-A now operates in three countries: the US, the UK, and Canada.
- At the start of 2019, Chick-fil-A only had locations in the US.
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Chick-fil-A is ramping up its international expansion, with its first restaurant in the UK.
Local news publication Berkshire Live reported that a Chick-fil-A location opened on Thursday in the town of Reading in Berkshire, England.
"We can confirm we opened a pilot licensed location in the UK on October 10 and we are pleased to have already served several hundred customers in our first day," a Chick-fil-A representative told Business Insider. "This location will help us understand more about consumer interest in our brand and signature menu items."
While Chick-fil-A has opened one-day pop-ups in the UK previously, this is the chain's first location in the country.
With the new UK location, Chick-fil-A now has restaurants in three countries around the world. Chick-fil-A opened its first location outside of the US in Toronto, Canada, earlier in 2019. In the next five years, the company plans to open at least 15 locations in the Canadian city.
Read more: How Chick-fil-A took over America, explained in charts
Chick-fil-A has seen explosive growth in the US in recent years. From 2012 to 2019, Chick-fil-A went from $4.6 billion in systemwide sales to nearly $10.5 billion in American systemwide sales, according to Nation's Restaurant News.
Chick-fil-A has received backlash for CEO Dan Cathy's 2012 comments in opposition to same-sex marriage and its ongoing donations to the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. At the same time, the chain continues to dominate rankings of customer satisfaction, with Business Insider readers saying the chain has the best food, customer service, and bathrooms.