Chick-fil-A is branching out and getting into the beverage business. This fall, the fast-food giant will debut Daybright, a standalone beverage-focused concept in the Greater Atlanta area, marking the chain’s latest experiment in a rapidly escalating fast-food drink war.
Unlike your usual Chick-fil-A, you won’t find waffle fries or chicken sandwiches at Daybright. Instead, the menu will lean into specialty coffees, smoothies, cold-pressed juices and other inventive drinks designed to catch the eye (and TikToks) of Gen Z. Food items will make an appearance too, though the brand is keeping those details under wraps.
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Daybright comes from Chick-fil-A’s innovation arm, Red Wagon Ventures, named after the wagon founder Truett Cathy used as a child to sell Coca-Cola. Since launching in 2017, Red Wagon has been Chick-fil-A’s playground for big ideas outside the chicken-sandwich lane, including Little Blue Menu, an expanded-menu spin-off serving burgers, wings, boba and more. Daybright will be its latest swing at something totally different.
The timing is no accident. The fast-food beverage space has been awash with new contenders. Starbucks still dominates with its endless Refresher line, but rivals are chasing the same customizable, colorful, social-media-friendly niche. Taco Bell recently launched Refrescas, Dunkin’ is riding the wave with its Sabrina Carpenter Daydream Refreshers and McDonald’s tested (and shuttered) CosMc’s, a beverage-focused concept of its own. Despite CosMc’s short run, McDonald’s announced this summer that some of its dirty soda–inspired drinks will live on in select locations.
Chick-fil-A already has fan-favorite lemonades, frosted lemonades and shakes on its core menu, but Daybright is set to be a potential test kitchen for future drink innovations. If a smoothie or cold brew concept lands at Daybright, don’t be surprised if it pops up in Chick-fil-A restaurants nationwide later on.
With Daybright, Chick-fil-A is stepping into a crowded, competitive arena. But given the brand’s track record of carefully calculated expansions—and a fiercely loyal fanbase—this new concept could have staying power where others fizzled out.
Atlanta will get the first sip this fall. The rest of us will just have to wait and see if Chick-fil-A’s latest gamble turns into the next big fast-food drink obsession.