Yesterday saw Chick-Fil-A give out free chicken in the Bryant Park area of New York City. Here, they erected a temporary pop-up shop that served customers with free food. As seen in the picture below, this idea proved to be very popular with locals who happily waited in line for a free meal.

Speaking of which, there is the old saying “There’s no such thing in life as a free meal” – and this may be a case of it. In other words, Chick-Fil-A didn’t suddenly decide to be generous and their motivation may have come from a place of competition, rather than altruism.

Instead, savvy New Yorkers quickly clocked what was going on. This publicity stunt coincided with the opening of the new Raising Canes store located in close proximity. Although Raising Canes isn’t that well known in New York (yet), it has gained a rising reputation in the Southern States after first opening in Baton Rogue back in 1996. Since then it has gone on to achieve over 600 restaurants across the USA.

And, while this may not be as much as the 2,900 Chick-Fil-A stores, it still shows a competitor stepping into their territory. You may have guessed what Raising Canes specializes in as well…chicken. For the customer, this can only be a good thing and will add more variation to the area. However, for Chick-Fil-A, it also represents stressful times in an increasingly competitive market.