QSR Magazine: Thanks to Social Media, Chick-fil-A’s BBQ Sauce is Back

What Chick-fil-A fans want, Chick-fil-A fans get. According to a recent QSR Magazine article , starting on November 7 the company is bringing back the original barbecue sauce due to demands from fans of the brand on social media.

“We like to say that while the Cathy family owns the business, our customers own the brand. It’s critical that we remain in constant dialogue about changes to the menu or guest experience,” David Farmer, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of menu strategy and development, says in an email.

The company mentioned that this was the first menu change that resulted from such passion from fans since it was such a simple fix. It was also the first menu change that wasn’t a result poor sales or operational difficulties.

Using the hashtag #BringBackTheBBQ, thousands of fans took to social media to complain about the change. Petitions were even created on Change.org to bring justice to the issue.

“We knew that we had several sauces with fanatical followers, like Chick-fil-A Sauce and Polynesian Sauce. We just didn’t realize that barbecue Sauce was in that category as well,” Farmer says.

The original barbecue sauce is slightly sweeter than the newer smokehouse barbecue sauce that has a bold pepper note and more of a kick to it. Chick-fil-A will be sending bottles of the original sauce to over 5,000 customers that contacted the company to complain.