Chick-fil-A’s newest business side hustle isn’t a restaurant

Red Wagon Ventures, a subsidiary of Chick-fil-A that serves to incubate and invest in businesses, quietly launched Acrew Home Professionals in metro Atlanta late last year.

Acrew offers professional handyman services, from repairing drywall to fixing clogged sinks and mounting televisions — a bit of a departure from Chick-fil-A’s core business of serving up fried chicken sandwiches and waffle fries.

“Red Wagon Ventures was created to build and partner with businesses that extend Chick-fil-A’s commitment for care and hospitality, but in ways that help us address new and varying customer needs,” David Farmer, vice president of Red Wagon, said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Acrew Home Professionals is a great example of that; bringing that same hospitality-first approach to home services and helping homeowners feel informed, confident and cared for throughout the process,” he said.

Credit: sour

Credit: sour

Chick-fil-A and its founding family have ventured beyond chicken before. Chairman Dan Cathy envisioned the Trilith development, a sprawling film and television production facility and mixed-use project in Fayetteville. He also donated the land for the new Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Fayetteville.

Red Wagon, which gets its name from the cart Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy pulled around when he was 6 years old to sell Coca-Cola to his neighbors, also recently launched a beverage-focused concept called Daybright, which has a location in Hiram.

Red Wagon was behind another restaurant concept called Little Blue Menu in College Park, Maryland, which serves menu items such as burgers and wings. It also developed a family entertainment concept called Kefi that operated for a couple of years in Buckhead.

Chick-fil-A has other concepts, including Truett’s Luau, a Hawaiian-themed restaurant in Fayetteville, and the diner-themed Truett’s Grill.

A $700 billion industry

Acrew joins a massive industry. U.S. spending on home services is approximately $700 billion a year, according to McKinsey & Co.

America’s aging housing stock is helping fuel demand for home maintenance and repair services, as new home construction has lagged since the Great Recession.

In metro Atlanta, almost 40% of the homes purchased in 2024 were 30 years or older, according to Redfin data.

Acrew says it aims to provide a premium service focused on customer relationships, reflecting “service principles that define Chick-fil-A,” according to its website.

Acrew now serves homeowners throughout the region, spanning cities from Alpharetta to Marietta, as well as Buckhead, College Park, Peachtree City and the Trilith project in Fayetteville. Currently, there are no plans to expand Acrew’s service area beyond the metro region.

Josh Brooker, who runs a home services company in metro Atlanta, said he sees Chick-fil-A’s new venture not as competition but as validation of the industry.

Brooker is founder of TE Certified, which provides electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling services, and has more than 500 workers and 375 trucks.

“I’m excited to see the standard and the expectation of a tradesperson raised,” Brooker said, adding he’s felt a stigma around the skilled trades, that workers can be treated differently than people who pursue traditional college degrees.

“That always really frustrated me,” he said. “This is a serious business. We do real work.”

He said having a company like Chick-fil-A enter the trades, with its strong brand and resources, could push homeowner expectations higher around customer service, from arriving on time to providing upfront pricing.

“Chick-fil-A is such a recognized brand for customer service,” he said. “They recognize that’s really important in home services, as well, which is something we’ve been talking about for a really long time and trying to pursue as a company.”

Julian Scadden, CEO of Nexstar Network, which offers business coaching and networking for home services businesses, echoed that sentiment in a recent letter to Chick-fil-A on Substack.

Scadden wrote, addressing the restaurant chain: “If you bring to this industry the same care for the guest experience that you brought to fast-casual dining, our craftspeople will be seen in an even better light by the homeowners they serve. That’s a good thing for everyone.”

Chick-fil-A and Cathy family side ventures

Here are some of the company’s and family’s ventures outside their core Chick-fil-A business: