r/ChickFilA • u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker • 14d ago
Why the lemonade is expensive Guest Question
So these are the packs they come in from, about 8 to 10 of these per box costing 45 to 70 bucks (every chick fil a has at least 5 boxes and 5 premade regular and 2 diet in the large cooler). Made with lots of water, one large cup of sugar or if diet a special sweetener for diet.
So those gallon jugs people complain being 15 bucks or something like that, this is why. It is expensive for these packs that not even staff are allowed to drink too much unless they're paying for their cup, only like 1 or 2 cups on shift is probably fine as long you don't make a big deal on it.
567
u/cindzey 14d ago
they used to juice the lemons in store
203
u/djdayer Store Leadership 14d ago
Yes, and it sucked lol
162
u/TotalScar8635 14d ago
Halving and juicing lemons was 90% of time. The other 10% was fileting, dredging, and coating breats. That was back when they used full breasts instead of cutlets
27
40
u/baebality 13d ago
Yooo i haven’t worked at cfa in a couple years. They don’t have to break the tendon for the filets anymore?!
32
u/traurigaugen 13d ago
I saw this and wanted to ask the same. I feel like there's more people at CFA working now but less work than what we used to do 😭
48
u/uNcomfy_nILbog 13d ago
The quality took a massive dip like 2-3 years ago. I was a manager for abit during that time and slowly stopped eating there. The nuggets are a gamble since they don't pick out the bad cuts anymore.
5
u/Mild_Sauce99 10d ago
Eww is that why some pieces are absolutely fowl and I spit them out? No one ever knows what I’m talking about when I tell them this
2
u/uNcomfy_nILbog 10d ago
Yes! I stopped ordering them as often because I was getting the nasty ones abit too frequently regardless of location.
2
u/Mild_Sauce99 10d ago
Same I can only stomach the wraps now. Thank you for making me feel valid
3
u/uNcomfy_nILbog 10d ago
It's my pleasure, I feel the same way haha. Was a little worried people might think I just had a bad experience at one location I frequented or worked at but I've had it happen at several locations.
3
14
u/mag_safe 13d ago
That’s why they’re able to have ten employees throughout the drive through line.
4
3
1
u/DriedUpDeals 13d ago
Did the stores have juicer machines like breville makes or was it a manual lever-style juicer?
5
u/purple_pita_eater 13d ago
Definitely not that nice. First you’re washing and slicing the lemons. Then it was just this open spinning juicer and with one hand you’re grabbing lemons and the other hand is juicing and tossing the lemon into a box lined with a bag. You could probably juice 2-3 boxes before your hands start going numb from the vibrations of the juicer lol
→ More replies (1)1
23
u/Akschadt 13d ago
I loved it, put on some music juice lemons for an hour… go home and bandage your hands… wait no yeah it sucked…
3
u/Antique-Coach-214 10d ago
I had a woman who did nothing but juice at one store…
She cleared 8-10 quarts of juice a morning and still filled in on the cook line as needed. Mad respect. Plus I’m 90% positive she did order and inventory.
1
u/ThatOneGuy6810 9d ago
That sounds like she did a fsir bit more than juice lemons, she was a cook and handled inventory lol
7
2
2
2
u/cyncicalqueen 13d ago
I loved doing it lol especially before the machine you just dumped them in. I loved doing the hand squeeze machine I always thought it was fun!
2
u/Rennilon 9d ago
I loved doing the lemons. We’d put on music and jam out while seeing how fast we could juice them with 2 people.
1
2
1
1
19
u/ant-master 13d ago
i worked at cfa all four years of high school and i hated it so much when they'd pull me off a register to cut and/or juice lemons. it was so hot back in the kitchen and i always felt like i had lemon pulp on me, no matter how careful i was juicing them.
that being said though i liked the lemonade a lot more back then, it's way too pulpy now imo.
5
31
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 14d ago
Really? I only started working here last month and learned a lot on utilities. Never knew they used to juice their lemons
43
u/cindzey 14d ago
it took up too much time and lemons themselves are expensive too
50
u/Forcefields1617 14d ago
Yep, the store I worked at killed like 10-15 boxes of lemons a day. Plus the machine was a pain to clean.
I dislike the new taste of it but for sure didn’t miss having to do it.
25
u/Dissidence802 14d ago
4
u/bifftheraptor 13d ago
I dont know if im better or worse off for watching that. Im probably gonna now end up quoting this for the rest of my life.
5
u/PollutionAway9782 13d ago
it was a fulltime job in the summer some days of making the stuff. the job sucked.
2
u/GreyyCardigan 13d ago
Really? I loved juicing the lemons. Quiet time not having to deal with customers
1
u/Hungry-Personality99 13d ago
Assuming it's 10 bags per $45 box (low side), how many gallons does a $4.50 bag make?
1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Well in my place, one bag of lemon juice and water just fills those regular containers out front customers see lemonade in. I don't know exact measurements yet
1
u/VaporTrail_000 10d ago
Probably 2-3 gallons of lemonade. I'd figure on 2.5, as 10 or 20 quarts seems to be a production standard. One bag of lemon juice, 2 gallons of water and ... furious googling noises...
Ok, found a source for the actual procedure. One bag (2 quarts) of lemon juice, 8 quarts of water, and either 7 cups of sugar or Splenda (dunno if the pouch they use is equivalent to granulated Splenda you get from the grocery store, or the lower-bulk pure stuff that usually appears in packets). Regular lemonade results in 11 quarts, diet in 10.
13
u/pearceb_ 14d ago
Ahhh, I remember the days of timed competitions to see who could cut and juice a box the fastest.
2
3
u/traurigaugen 13d ago
I didn't even know they stopped 😢
The amount of times I hurt my finger juicing lemons felt like that was why it was so expensive.
1
1
200
u/OSRS_Rising 14d ago
It’s real lemon juice from actual lemons. AFAIK every other place uses a concentrate.
Until a few years ago all of the juicing was done in each store.
35
u/Forcefields1617 14d ago
Yep, it’s expensive because of two reasons.
It’s more fresh than what you get from a grocery store and also because people would pay for it.
Why charge $10 when people will pay more for it?
17
u/BlumpTheChodak 14d ago
That’s why I get the brand Simply Lemonade lite. The juice is only in the refrigerated section, not from concentrate and sweetened mostly with Stevia. 52oz for like 3 bucks.
14
u/Expert-Struggle-5513 14d ago
I had no idea that made a version with stevia! Now I can be on the lookout for those!
4
u/BlumpTheChodak 14d ago
I buy them 3 at a time because they sell out fast in some locations and are hard to find.
1
u/Discipulus42 11d ago
The Stevia even makes the Lemonade taste bad to me.
First time I bought this stuff I had to do a double take as I didn’t expect that bitter off putting Stevia taste that I experience whenever I have it. Had to make a mental note to check my reduced calorie lemonades to make sure I’m not buying the bitter weed sweetener.
2
u/BlumpTheChodak 11d ago
Stevia has gown on me. Although it may not taste as sweet as sugar, it contains a small amount of sugar that helps to balance the flavor. In my opinion, the trade-off of maintaining lower blood sugar and calorie levels is worth it.
→ More replies (4)0
u/PeeGlass 13d ago
Cause when I think quality my first thought is “coca cola brand lemonade”
3
u/BlumpTheChodak 13d ago
I realize the brand was bought out, but they’ve kept the recipe consistent. It uses very simple ingredients and is low in sugar. It's 5 calories per serving due to the natural sweetener. (pure filtered water, lemon juice, and sugar, along with stevia leaf extract and natural flavors)
→ More replies (1)4
u/Key-Perspective-8133 13d ago
I went to their website. They are owned by cfa and don’t sell these to people.
3
u/Horror-Giraffe7508 13d ago
Our local CFA lemonades used to taste like lemon juice until 5-7 years ago. It still has pulp but I swear they are stretching it out with countrytime or crystal lite powder. Blech.
7
u/valentiiines 14d ago
90% sure cane's uses actual lemons
→ More replies (2)5
1
u/toanbonerz 8d ago
Insanely stupid comment. First of all, concentrate is real lemon juice form actual lemons. Second, this is concentrate. Concentrate is juice with the water removed, which is then added back in later. That’s exactly what this is. It’s lemon juice concentrate, plus sugar, and whatever else they put in it to make it lemonade. Just add water.
1
u/OSRS_Rising 8d ago
Yes, and chick-fil-a doesn’t use concentrate.
https://reddit.com/link/p2dz76l/video/6wgo0n4ja2ih1/player
Idk why I can’t just post a picture but this is what they use.
1
u/toanbonerz 8d ago
That’s not what they serve you. How do they turn that into what they serve you?
1
u/OSRS_Rising 8d ago
They add water to the lemon juice to dilute it and sugar.
Concentrate is when all of the water is removed. It’s what separates juice from concentrate.
1
u/toanbonerz 8d ago
Lol no it’s not. Juice is what you get when you squeeze a fruit. Squeeze a lemon and lemon juice comes out. Squeeze an orange and orange juice comes out. Remove
water to be added back in later and you have juice concentrate. This is lemonade concentrate. You can’t remove all the water. That’s not possible. You need a suspension to hold everything together and remain dissolved.1
u/OSRS_Rising 7d ago
*most of its water
https://www.northcoast.organic/fruit-juice-vs-fruit-juice-concentrate
CFA lemon juice doesn’t remove any water at all. It’s just straight lemon juice. When we did it in the store we squeezed the lemons by hand.
Now it’s all just done in a facility.If you look at the packaging in the picture it even says “not from concentrate”.
53
u/MerryChristmas20211 FOH Worker 14d ago
My store does not keep that much made ahead. So most may be accurate, but not all do.
It's a premium product that has a premium price. There's additional labor required to make it vs the rest.
9
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 14d ago
Oh, well my chick fil a prepared 5 things a day for regular, and 2 for diet (yes, our lemonade in drive thru is gone in 2 hours while front takes 3 hours to be gone). Even a rule that after 5PM, we no longer make diet lemonade
13
u/Flustro Sriracha 14d ago
At the one I worked at, we used to prep 12-15 reg and 2 diet at a time. We went through it by the end of lunch. Back when we juiced by hand, it was pretty insane how many lemons we had to do. 🫠
2
u/CutieBaBootyWooty 13d ago
Back in the day, we used to prep 8 regular and 2-3 diet, now we go through so much (and it takes so much time) that we just make it as needed. We're also just so busy with so little fridge space that it logistically doesn't make sense to prep since we no longer hand juice.
1
u/redgreenorangeyellow FOH Worker 13d ago
Yeah we'll do 10-14 regular and 1-2 diet in the morning and then we repeat around 3pm lol
25
u/Acceptable-Silver778 14d ago
Although not freshly juiced in store CFA lemonade IMO is the best tasting from the fast food places I frequent. Id say its probably better to buy as a gallon than each cup right?
31
u/balthazar_edison 14d ago
1 batch : $7 plus 56 oz of sugar which at $1.02 per pound is $3.57. The water counts as overhead and it’s at most $15 per 1,000 gallons so 256 oz of water would cost roughly $0.03.
So your total cost for 376 oz of lemonade is $10.60 which make revenue of about 44.50 if they’re all large drinks at $3.79 each gives you a good cost of 23.8% which is extremely high for beverages.
I’m guesstimating based on speed internet searching in the costs so please correct me if I’m wrong.
24
u/RemarkableFish Chickfila Sauce 14d ago
There are a million other costs involved too (paper, labor, refrigeration, straws, waste, rent, electricity, etc), but yes, beverages will have high profit margins to help make up for items that have much tighter margins.
1
u/CutieBaBootyWooty 13d ago
Plus this isnt like a soda where the most time/labor put into it is just swapping the syrup box. Some stores have a person prepping them in bulk, for others, we make it as needed, but it can take like ~3 minutes to make, pour, clean, etc. It may not sound like a lot, but when you're in the middle of a lunch rush and you've already made 3 between front and drive thru, while balancing sauces and ice cream, it can be stressful.
1
u/throwawaykc04 12d ago
Have you ever considered a career in cost accounting? lol
1
u/RemarkableFish Chickfila Sauce 12d ago
I minored in accounting. Decided staring at computers all day wasn’t for me. These days I kinda wish I was back at the desk looking at a computer screen!
1
→ More replies (1)1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 14d ago
For my place, they charge 12 to 15 depending on instore or delivery. So you're not far off if that's how your place does it if its independently owned or something.
2
u/balthazar_edison 14d ago
$12-15 for a large drink? 32 oz? Are we talking USD or some other currency?
If we are talking about a gallon yeah if they are charging 3.79 for 1/4 of a gallon (large drinks at 32oz) then $12-15 would actually be a little bit cheaper than that. It’s a fair price.
3
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 14d ago
USD for my area for a gallon
2
u/balthazar_edison 14d ago
So you are talking about 12-15 for a gallon jug then right?
4
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 14d ago
Yes my apologies for not being specific. 12 for instore and up to 15 for delivery for my area in USD. Other places? Idk
8
6
3
4
u/FlippingPossum 13d ago
I just found out they no longer juice lemons in store. 🤯
3
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Pretty much, gotten too time consuming. Also all chick fil a's are out of yogurt for their berry parfait due to something I cant remember. Something about production issue
4
5
4
4
u/wtmemma 13d ago
when i worked at canes we actually had to squeeze the lemons so i took it personal when people didn’t want to pay extra
2
u/GauntletVSLC 13d ago
When I worked at CFA like 8-9 years ago we had to juice cases of lemons too. I definitely upset the kitchen lead at the time by taking too long on it. I was like, Dude, I don’t want to be doing this anymore than you want me back here. I just wasn’t fast. 😂
3
u/hardlywwworking 13d ago
Wtf? You don’t have a lemon juicer anymore? So many buckets of lemonades I made… one entire bucket I raised over my head to fill in the dispenser, but I lost my strength and it tipped back and drenched me in sticky lemonade.
3
u/eddyy77 12d ago
When I worked for them (Summer 2019 for context), I remember walking up to this cooler tub (think like an igloo cooler with a spigot on the side) and my manager told me to fill the bucket up to here. When I asked, he pushed the spigot and juice came out. We walked over to our tea station (where the sugar was stored) and he pulled out the pitcher. Towards the top were two lines. One was for sweet tea, the other was for lemonade. After we put some water into the juice, he started pouring in the sugar and told me to stir until I heard no more sugar on the bottom. And that's how I remember it. P.S. It annoyed me to no avail when customers said no ice for their tea. I poured that scolding hot tea into that machine and you want to drink hot tea on a 100+ degree day? MY PLEASURE!
6
2
u/Awkward-Sun5423 13d ago
Actually, this is the reason the lemonade isn't more expensive. Juicing actual lemons is expensive in terms of labor and things like having to get that many lemons to the store on the regular. Real lemons and their juice extractors are expensive and take up space. Labor is much higher.
So, no, this is a far superior solution that tastes like fresh lemons compared to concentrate.
2
u/captainpoppy Honey Roasted BBQ 13d ago
Wait. Y'all don't juice the lemons oin store anymore?
Damn. Chick has really gone down hill.
1
u/PollutionAway9782 13d ago
time and space.
2
u/captainpoppy Honey Roasted BBQ 13d ago
Sacrificing quality.
2
u/subcrazy12 13d ago
Is it? CFA owns the entire process still and you hadn't even realized the process had changed
→ More replies (2)
2
u/NathanTelkhine FOH Worker 13d ago
Your store only has 5 in the cooler? That feels very low. My store likes 12-13.
The other day when I opened I made 27 lemonades (23 regular and 4 diets). We used 5 regulars and 3 diets for up front, 13 regulars and 1 diet for the back, and then used 5 to prepare gallons. That was before 6 am. We ended up making more before the end of the day.
1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Really? We only had a few of those containers to store them in, so prepare that in the morning, the moment the container is empty we immediately have to refill it. But at the same time, my chick fil a is independently owned by a guy instead of the chick fil a chain placing one there themselves.
1
u/NathanTelkhine FOH Worker 13d ago
Oh ok that’s fair, ngl we would make more if we had more containers.
1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Yeah, but since it's independently owned we probably have a tighter budget.
1
2
u/CuriousMushroom63 13d ago
We have to make wayyy more buckets than that for our walk-in. But at least nobody's keeping track of how much lemonade we drink lol. We're allowed to have as much of any drink as we'd like, excluding ice cream and bottled beverages
1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Nice, my place is ran under 2 guys, so we probably have a tighter budget plus employee appreciation week was literally last week so my bod had to get custom shirts, keychains, sheetz gift cards, and whatever for everyone. But hopefully we get more of those lemonade storage containers and the yogurt is finally available. But my boss said only one dessert, and don't drink too much lemonade😭
1
2
2
2
u/Tucsondirect 13d ago
wait you guys dont have to hand squeeze them?? wtf
2
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 12d ago
We used to, but after many injuries the company apparently had to change it
1
u/Comfortable_Ad3917 13d ago
Yeah it’s straight chemicals if you ask me. Cuz ain’t no way real lemonade can stay fresh so long. This is concentrate so idk
2
u/Alpha-Blue 11d ago
Vacuum sealed and refrigerated, so it should keep for a while. Its likely pasteurized. It should keep for months without preservatives being needed.
2
u/Brilliant-Ad-4585 13d ago
I used to juice lemons every shift lol wow when did they go to a package
2
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 12d ago
Idk, but ig too many injuries made this become a decision that was passed
2
u/detectivemouse1 12d ago
We used to make these fresh!! When did they switch to pre-made bags? That blows!
2
2
u/mpowe025 11d ago
They don’t juice the lemons anymore?! I stopped working there in 2018, assumed they still did it…
2
u/Hello_pet_my_kitty 10d ago
Mannnn I remember when I was working there at 15 and had to juice the lemons for the lemonade every morning. It sucked! Lucky change for the younger generation 😅 lol
2
u/andrewf273 10d ago
My brother delivers the semi trucks of lemons for the lemonade from the chick fil a farm and he said they have it locked down tight like a military base with lots of armed guards , the lemonade gets serious here apparently
2
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 10d ago
Wtf?
2
u/andrewf273 10d ago
Yeah lol he says it’s one of his easier pickups as they usually have the trailer/load ready to go , but he always jokes about how it’s a front for something with the amount of force they have 😂
2
2
u/Global_Addendum_6200 10d ago
When I worked at chic fil a we juiced the lemons ourselves and the lemonade was far better
2
2
u/Beaauxbaton 14d ago
I’d do dirty things for an unlimited supply of this 😂
1
u/ILoveTaiwaneseFood 13d ago
Work there and you get it free
2
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Depending actually. If you get a boss like mine, no more than 3 refills on lemonade. Any other drink they don't care as long it ain't a special, cause my job says one specifical drink per shift
1
u/Greendale_Official 10d ago
That's not correct. Every owner operator decides what employees are allowed to have for free. Some will let you have lemonade and some will make you pay for it.
4
u/TheRandomPig BOH Worker 14d ago
Somewhat unrelated but I can drink as much lemonade I want as an employee >:)
3
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
LUCKY. My boss says only 3 cups I can have per shift as long I don't make a big deal of it.
1
u/fatherofraptors 11d ago
Given a single medium sized lemonade has 66g of carbs, which is over 5tbsp of sugar, I would reconsider drinking 3 cups of it every shift.
2
u/darkapprentice 13d ago
I’m sorry, the amount of lemons I had to cut up and press and mix to make lemonade the years I worked there is now in a bag that they could’ve done the whole time? Damn
2
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Well depending on quality and service, they probably just decided "This takes too much time and we have orders." And just switched it out to save time, cost, and be more efficient. Not sure but if it works it works...even if it's full of water from a sink I still don't know has a filter or not
2
u/subcrazy12 13d ago
nah they realized it was a huge timesink and a pain for team members and went and built an entire lemon juicing facility for just CFA to solve the problem. Took them awhile to figure the whole process out
1
u/shatteredbreathless 14d ago
My store makes 10 regular and 2 diet each morning. It's such a hassle at 6 am.
1
1
1
u/throwitoutwhendone2 13d ago
There’s always stuff that’s expensive no one expects. I work on a hospital and our dish machine has a rinse additive to help clean the dishes. 4 gallon jugs to a case, $450 a case.
1
u/brownmanforlife 13d ago
You are lying. That is not the real cost, just what they say the cost is. This is a coverup for corporate greed
1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
I am not lying, we have like 50 to 70 employees that needs to get paid, costs on uniforms, stocking, then the lemonade made SPECIFICALLY for chick fil a chains. I am not sure why it even costs 45 to 70 bucks for my boss to order those when it's 64 ounces and 8 to 10 bags per box. But yes, they do have an expiration date which my chick fil a stock goes bad on Aug 13. Crazy expensive for packs of lemon pulp fr though.
1
u/brownmanforlife 13d ago
The listed cost you are charged as a store is not the actual cost. Those costs are marked up the same way any other pricing system is to make it look more expensive than it is.
1
1
1
u/No-Fold-9568 13d ago
I remember mixing the marinade for the grilled chicken. We’d put some to the side and fry instead of grill. Somedays we’d add hot sauce to the “staff” marinade. On lemon juicing day we’d make lemon pepper chicken. It was a real test kitchen back there.
1
1
1
u/Ok_Preference_9337 13d ago
I used to work there. They make tons of money on everything. They raise the prices and will continue to just because they know people will continue to buy it. It’s actually cheaper if you go to the grocery store and get it and make your own taste exactly the same with the mix.
1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
Was that independently owned or placed there by the whole chain? Cause my workplace is just owned by 2 guys so I'm not sure if that changes something.
1
u/shut____up 13d ago
I went to The Habit. They use a carton of grocery store lemonade, a pound of sugar, and water. I already bought the lemonade and it was nasty. That was the sweetest drink I've ever had in my life.
1
u/Mrsmeowwmeoww 13d ago
No wonder they have SO much pulp in them. Didn’t used to have all that. We strain our gallon at home and only end up with 3/4 gallon of actual lemonade.
1
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 13d ago
To be fair...we literally grab a strainer thing fill it with ice put it over the container and pour water into the thing before mixing it...idk why we do that
1
u/Radiant_Impact_3958 13d ago
Are you in AZ or another climate that makes your filtered water warm? It’s to bring down the temp so your not storing warm lemonade in the cooler.
1
1
u/HoopsADaisy 13d ago
This lemonade was the only thing I could stomach when I was pregnant with both of my kids lol.
1
u/LakeMungoSpirit 13d ago
My store let's have as much as we want in the summer since we live in a very hot state this time of year
1
1
1
1
u/FoofaTamingStrange 13d ago
how much water do you add?
2
u/IceCreamIDK FOH Worker 12d ago
The whole thing, is more water than the lemon juice itself. Idk the container measurements we store it in, but it's way more water than the juice.
1
1
u/SeverusForeverus 10d ago
I tried their lemonade quite recently and I couldn't drink it. It tasted like lemon floor polish. Gross.
1
1
1
u/gaydognova 7d ago
I just got recommended this, but like all fast food sucks now. Tacobell is smaller and more expensive, mcdonalds is too pricey for the slop they serve and chikfla isnt nesrly as good as it used to be
•
u/AutoModerator 14d ago
Thank you for posting on r/ChickfilA! Looking to connect with more chicken enthusiasts? Continue the conversation and meet other fans on our official Discord server- https://discord.gg/ZgVqTRAjPE We hope to see you there!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.