Chick-fil-A adding grilled chicken options

Chick-fil-A is adding three grilled chicken entrees to its menus as fast-food restaurants battle for diners looking healthier, non-fried meal options.

The chain is adding a grilled chicken sandwich, a grilled chicken club sandwich and grilled nuggets.

The Atlanta-based chain says it spent seven years and more than $50 million developing its grilled chicken recipe. Chick-fil-A and Garland Grills created a grill for the chain.

“Our previous grilled entrees were good, but not remarkable. We wanted a grilled chicken recipe that is just as ‘craveable’ as our original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich,” said David Farmer, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of product strategy and development.

Chick-fil-A has about 15 restaurants in the Chicago area and 1,775 locations overall.

Chick-fil-A extended its lead over rival KFC as the No. 1 chicken chain in the U.S. last year. Preliminary data from food industry researcher Technomic shows that Atlanta-based Chick-Fil-A held the lead because its locations are much busier, even though there are far fewer of them. The chain overtook KFC as the top chicken chain in 2012.

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