Inside iconic fast food chain’s training centre with FAKE restaurant simulator – it’s coming to UK high streets in 2025

FAMED for its chicken sandwiches and soon to make an appearance on UK high streets, we visited Chick-fil-A’s top secret US headquarters.

It’s a place where monopoly money replaces the US currency, bicycles fill in for cars and employees pose as hungry customers.

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Located next to Chick-fil-A’s head office south of Atlanta, Georgia, the huge restaurant simulator is where the chain tests out new ideas – from menu options to kitchen gadgets before they reach its 3,000 restaurants and millions of hungry customers.

The 6,000sq ft complex is also where a chosen few train to open their own Chick-fil-A restaurant.

The US fast food giant is set to open its first UK site in early 2025 under a similar franchise model and a further five in the following two years.

Those wishing to open and run their own restaurant here are expected to make a visit to the mothership in the coming months.

The Sun was invited to visit this simulator in action and take a bike trip around the secret operations to understand precisely what they can expect – and how it will influence what you’ll see on your plate.

From the exterior, the building looks like an Ikea-style warehouse.

Walking in for the first time, I could be entering any one of the chain’s restaurants across the US. 

But as I glance up I spot suspended lighting and voted ceilings, just like you’d see in a movie set, giving away that this is not for the general public and I’m only one of a handful of people to get a glimpse inside.

Tens of thousands of people apply each year to run one of these restaurants, but just a fraction are successful. The Washington Post branded it harder than getting into Harvard.

I heard from one prospective franchisee in Atlanta that over 98,000 people recently applied for a single position to open and operate a single new Chick-fil-A restaurant.

Those who do get through face serving top executives in the simulator, marking the last step before getting the keys to their own local restaurant.

They are expected to take orders, prepare the food and deal with “customers” who opt to use the makeshift drive-thru.

The only thing missing is the scores of customers who usually pass through any normal Chick-fil-A restaurant for their food fix – and it was a little eerie with no training taking place at the time.

Inside is not just one but several different mock-ups to replicate all the possible setups they may get in real life.

There are working tills, vast swathes of seating, toilets, drive-thru-kiosks and full-size kitchens.

These can serve up everything you’d find in a normal Chick-fil-A restaurant, from patented fryers for cooking up the original chicken sandwich to salad bars and milkshake machines.

I pretended to place my order at the drive-thru by riding the bicycles scattered around the warehouse.

The whole place was spotless, just like you expect to see in real life at Chick-fil-A restaurants.

When training takes place, wannabe operators are given an hour to serve customers, and the warehouse gets packed to the brim with hungry employees.

But it’s not just making the food that’s the important part, here trainees are thrown in the deep end and are taught how to deal with both happy and challenging customers.

Their job is to ensure they keep their customer service skills up to Chick-fil-A’s high standards.

After all, those wishing to take on a franchise must demonstrate to the company that they won’t just serve the food with a smile, but also give back to the locality to create a sense of community.

Chick-fil-A encourages operators to choose how and when they want to give back – by supporting meaningful causes to them, their customers and their communities.

For example, in some areas, that means supporting the troops through military appreciation events or inviting guests for family events like daddy-daughter date night. 

Pass the course and meet these standards, and you’re ready to take ownership of your own Chick-fil-A franchise.

Food innovation

New food creations are also spawned here at a secretive food innovation centre before being tested with operators in the simulator and then hitting menus.

In fact, it’s so top secret that we were not allowed to take photos during our visit.

The building looked like a clinical laboratory and was lined with rooms full of kitchen equipment, technicians, and food engineers doing everything from quality testing to designing new menu items.

I witnessed one technician simply counting how many fries fit comfortably in their Chick-fil-A packaging.

While I couldn’t be shown all aspects of the building, I was led into one room filled to the brim with the chain’s patented equipment.

Here, I was allowed to attempt to make my own strawberry milkshake the Chick-fil-A way.

It was easier than I thought and contained a large pump of Icedream (Chick-fil-A’s take on a creamy vanilla ice cream), strawberry syrup, whipped cream and finished with a glace cherry.

While I used the specially made milkshake machine, you still need the human touch to get the right mix, and a good technique – it wasn’t my best work but it was tasty.

The chicken sandwich shop is a family-run business and operates as a franchise-style system where anyone can apply to operate their own restaurant.

It differs from other fast food chains we know in the UK – like McDonald’s, KFC or Burger King – as franchisees don’t own the sites themselves.

Franchisees – or operators as they are known – run the businesses on a day-to-day basis, but Chick-fil-A owns the rest, including the brick and mortar site.

This means the company owns the actual restaurant, while the franchisee operates the business on their behalf.

It means a smaller outlay and less risk for operators, and in the US, it costs just $10,000 (£7,932) for the initial franchise agreement.

A McDonald’s franchise typically costs between £350k and £1,85million in the UK.

Chick-fil-A also only lets its operators run up to a three stores and the majority only run a single location.

With other fast food chains you can run several at once, and even build a mini empire, though that requires significant investment.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk