What is Bay Center's role in the Chick Fil A franchise system?
Chick_Fil_A Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
actors, a distribution fee and an allowance for fuel and freight costs from the CFA Supply warehouse to the Chick-fil-A Restaurants it will supply.
Our affiliate Bay Center produces Chick-fil-A branded lemon juice that is a proprietary principal ingredient used to produce proprietary Chick-fil-A branded lemonade. Bay Center is an approved supplier to supply lemon juice to Chick-fil-A Restaurants in geographic areas it operates. Bay Center may be the only approved supplier of lemon juice for the geographic area where it operates. Bay Center began operations in 2020. The lemon juice is purchased by Chick-fil-A's authorized distributor(s) from Bay Center and is shipped by Bay Center directly to Chick-fil-A's authorized distributor(s). The distributor(s) pays Bay Center for the proprietary lemon juice when the lemon juice is purchased by the distributor(s). The distributor(s) then sells the lemon juice to the Operators. If your franchised Chick-fil-A Restaurant is in a location Bay Center supplies, your cost for the lemon juice depends on a pricing formula Bay Center determines in the exercise of its sole and exclusive business judgment that includes a markup by Bay Center that may change. Based upon the cost of ingredients to Bay Center (including any freight charges) your cost will fluctuate.
You must purchase all of the following items from suppliers who are approved in advance by Chick-fil-A: all present and future items of food and drink; all items of non-food inventory intended for sale to or use by your customers; all ingredients, food products, produce, mixes, spices, cooking aides, wrappings, food and beverage containers; certain other designated items necessary for maintaining and cleaning your franchised Chick-fil-A Restaurant business, certain proprietary marketing and promotional
materials and other items bearing our trademarks, and all other items necessary or optional for preparing products sold in your franchised Chick-fil-A Restaurant business. We are exploring potential renewable energy sources to provide power to and from some Chick-fil-A Restaurants. We anticipate that solar panels will be installed at several Chick-fil-A Restaurants in the test of one or more renewable energy programs.
Source: Item 8 — Restrictions on Sources of Products and Services (FDD pages 43–49)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Chick Fil A's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, Bay Center is an affiliate that produces Chick-fil-A branded lemon juice, a proprietary ingredient for Chick-fil-A branded lemonade. Bay Center began operations in 2020 and is an approved supplier of lemon juice to Chick-fil-A Restaurants in specific geographic areas, potentially being the only approved supplier in those areas.
The lemon juice is purchased by Chick-fil-A's authorized distributors from Bay Center and then shipped directly to those distributors. The distributors pay Bay Center for the lemon juice and subsequently sell it to the Chick-fil-A Operators. The cost for lemon juice to a franchisee depends on a pricing formula determined by Bay Center, which includes a markup that may change and is based on the cost of ingredients and freight charges.
In 2024, Bay Center received $186,616,788 from purchases made by Chick-fil-A's authorized distributors for lemon juice distributed to Operators and Licensees in its service areas. This revenue is included in Chick-fil-A's consolidated revenues. Officers of Chick-fil-A own an interest in Bay Center, making it an affiliate of Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A retains the right to change supplier requirements as the system evolves.