Are Chick-Fil-A Sandwiches Really Getting Smaller? Here's What Customers Have To Say

Some people might consider Chick-fil-A the gold standard of fast food chicken sandwiches. After all, it is the best-selling chicken chain in the United States by a large margin. With that popularity comes a large following of fans who might notice small changes to Chick-fil-A's menu — whether it's subtle ingredient differences, flavors, and portion sizes. And that's exactly what has happened with the chain's most famous menu item: its fried chicken sandwich.

One thread on Reddit shows some customer frustration over what appears to be a sandwich that has dwindled in size. The thread opens with "What happened to Chick-fil-A?" with two side-by-side photos of the sandwich five years apart. One is large and vibrant with a well-battered chicken breast, while the other looks skinny and sad. The original Reddit poster adds, "I went back to the store and told them that it looked like someone stepped on it and they even remade another one." The poster said the remade sandwich was still not close to resembling the large chicken breast in the photo from five years before. A Facebook commenter agrees, saying the entire sandwich fit in her palm when she last visited the chain.

Of course, the most obvious answer to these changes is the dreaded shrinkflation — which has seemingly struck every corner of the fast food restaurant world the last few years. Another Redditor says CFA's quality has nosedived in general in recent years: "Thin, stringy chicken, thin, oily buns that fall apart, weird tasting fries."

One Redditor says Tyson — which they claim is the source for much of Chick-Fil-A's chicken — is to blame for the drop in quality and size. Others say that this is just a simple result of different standards at different locations. "The newer one doesn't look like they pressed the filet as well and so it didn't retain its moisture," the same Redditor comments. "It has to do with the technique of the individual breading them." In the nutrition details on its website, CFA says its basic chicken sandwich has a serving size of 183 grams — which is the equivalent of about 6 ½ ounces. That indicates a corporate standard which, like the Redditor says, might end up with varying results based on how the chicken is prepared.

But it's not just the sandwiches with seemingly shrinking sizes. Customers have complained about the wraps (which aren't very good anyway), waffle fries, and even the mac and cheese coming in stingy portions. In terms of the sandwich, if you've noticed dwindling sizes, one Facebook user has a pretty brilliant hack. He orders a two-count of the chicken tenders for $3.89 and requests a bun for 25 cents. He places the tenders inside the bun for a makeshift sandwich that totals $4.14. Compare that to the standard sandwich which costs $5.39. While there may not be a huge discrepancy in size, you'll at least save $1.25 and get more overall value out of your order.

So has Chick-fil-A's famous chicken sandwiches gotten smaller? Of course, the chain won't say. But if you look anywhere on the internet, the answer for most customers is absolutely.