NEED TO KNOW
- Chick-fil-A will open Daybright this fall in Georgia, a beverage-focused concept under Red Wagon Ventures
- The menu will feature specialty coffees, smoothies, and cold-pressed juices — excluding Chick-fil-A food or drinks
- Daybright continues Chick-fil-A’s innovation efforts, joining past projects like Little Blue Menu
Chick-fil-A is taking a bold step outside the chicken coop.
According to a press release obtained by PEOPLE, the fast-food giant’s innovation arm, Red Wagon Ventures, will open Daybright — a standalone beverage-focused concept — in Georgia later this fall.
Unlike a standard Chick-fil-A restaurant, Daybright won’t serve chicken sandwiches, waffle fries or any of the chain’s signature items. Instead, it will pour its energy into specialty coffees, smoothies, cold-pressed juices and other innovative drink creations. A spokesperson for the company says more details on Daybright will be revealed in the months ahead.
“Daybright is a new beverage-focused restaurant concept and is scheduled to open in the Greater Atlanta area this fall,” said the spokesperson. “Daybright is brought to you by Red Wagon Ventures, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Chick-fil-A, Inc. We look forward to sharing more details in the future!”
Daybright joins a growing wave of quick-service restaurants experimenting with drink-first concepts. Taco Bell is expanding its Live Mas Café, while McDonald’s has been testing an expanded beverage lineup after retiring its CosMc’s concept earlier this year.
For Chick-fil-A, Daybright is another step in exploring new territory. Under Red Wagon Ventures — named after a red wagon founder Truett Cathy used at age six to sell Coca-Cola — the chain has been testing innovative concepts beyond its core menu.
Last year, Chick-fil-A opened its second Little Blue Menu location in College Park, Md., serving an expanded menu that included burgers, wings, boba drinks and cold brew.
While Daybright won’t overlap with Chick-fil-A’s existing beverage lineup — which includes lemonades, frosted lemonades, milkshakes and cold brew — it could become a testing ground for future drink ideas that might eventually appear in Chick-fil-A locations nationwide.
Red Wagon Ventures, established in 2017, is the company’s playground for experimentation, carrying forward Cathy’s spirit of entrepreneurial curiosity. Past ventures include Kefi, a family play-and-dine concept that operated for two years.
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