Chick-fil-A made a 'slight' change to its waffle fry recipe — and fans are distraught
Chick-fil-A fans are upset after the fast food chain made a “slight adjustment” to its popular waffle potato fry recipe.
On the brand’s website, the company announced that it will no longer be serving the same beloved waffle fries that fans have come to love. Instead, they’ll be serving a new version of the fries that’ll help the tasty treat stay crispier for longer while also offering the “same great taste.”
Along with its announcement, Chick-fil-A noted that its updated recipe “doesn’t contain any of the nine major allergens,” but the new coating for its fries does contain pea starch.
After rolling out its updated product, Chick-fil-A customers appeared to be up in arms about the recipe change, with some vehemently voicing their disapproval online.
“CFA I love you more than anyone. You can do no wrong. Except the fries. Please put them back,” one person commented on a post that Chick-fil-A shared on Instagram.
Another said, “New fries are awful — we haven’t been back since we noticed the change 😢.”
A third added, “Your new fries are terrible. I can’t even eat them anymore and they were my favorite thing. Please go back! ❤️.”
In a statement to TODAY.com, Chick-fil-A says the change to the waffle fry recipe isn’t new and it’s been testing it out for over a year.
“We know Chick-fil-A fans love our Waffle Potato Fries. Last year we made a slight adjustment to our Waffle Potato Fries recipe, which offers the same great taste while also making our Waffle Potato Fries stay crispier, longer,” the statement read.
Some Chick-fil-A customers complaining about the waffle fries say that their main issue is with the restaurant’s pea starch coating.
“Please go back to the original fries. My daughter has an allergy to peas and pea protein. We can no longer visit the restaurant due to allergy concerns and cross contamination,” one person wrote on the post.
A second commented, “Please go back to your old fries! The addition of pea starch/protein was a poor choice! Now my 4 yo can’t come to you bc she’s allergic.”
Another said, “Please!! So many kiddos with peanut allergies also cannot eat peas!! Unfortunately we won’t be able to eat there anymore now 😭.”
While many waffle fry fans bombarded the Chick-fil-A post with their frustration over the recipe change, some on social media didn’t appear too upset about the change.
One wrote they didn’t care much about the change because Chick-fil-A fries are “terrible anyway.”
Another said that “instead of changing” the recipe, Chick-fil-A should allow people to request specialty orders of fries.
“If somebody request crispy fries like I do, you give it to them,” the person wrote.
This isn’t the first time that Chick-fil-A made a change to one of its popular items on its menu. In March, the store decided that it would no longer keep its chickens antibiotic-free. The company explained they were doing this to “maintain supply of the high-quality chicken” that customers expect from them.
“This change enables us to not only ensure we can continue to serve high-quality chicken, but also chicken that still meets the expectations our customers count on us to deliver,” a Chick-fil-A spokesperson told TODAY.com at the time.
