What Happened With Chick-Fil-A's Cranberry Orange Bagels?

If you've just read the title and did a double-take, you may be thinking: Wait, what, when did that happen, and how did I miss it? Don't worry — we're not trying to trick you. There never was such a thing as a cranberry orange bagel on Chick-fil-A's breakfast menu, as this idea died during the test kitchen stage. 

There's nothing inherently wrong with cranberry and orange bagels, per se. The flavor combination of tart cranberries with sweet orange works well, particularly in baked goods such as cranberry orange oatmeal cookies and cranberry bread made with orange juice and zest. Cranberry orange bagels do exist, also. Even mainstream manufacturer Sara Lee produces this flavor as a limited edition item. So why was this menu item nixed before it made it to a single Chick-fil-A restaurant? It may not have been the bagels that posed a problem as much as what the chain intended to do with them. The simple answer is this: Sometimes, the right menu items are created at the wrong time in history. 

As Chick-fil-A's blog tells the story, cranberry orange bagels were first proposed as a menu addition in 2006. Interestingly enough, the bagels weren't the standard ring-shaped but square-shaped instead. No pictures were posted, so we do not know whether the hole in the middle was square or if there even was a hole. However, the bagel's shape wasn't the real issue at hand. You might expect a cranberry orange bagel would be on the sweeter side and something you'd eat with no more than a schmear of plain cream cheese. But Chick-fil-A wasn't going to leave things there. Instead, what the company had in mind was topping the bagel with a chicken filet and turning it into a sweet and savory breakfast sandwich option. 

Chick-fil-A test kitchen Chef Christy Cook recalled that those who tasted the cranberry orange chicken bagelwich quite liked it, but ultimately, as she admitted, "It was just so far out there, ahead of its time." In 2006, the thinking was, "The market isn't ready for it." Does that mean that Chick-fil-A will re-introduce this idea when the time is right? We'll have to wait and see, as the chain tends to be more conservative than other popular fast food chains like Taco Bell or Arby's when it comes to introducing wacky new menu items. Still, we feel that our modern palates might be ready for such an innovation, so bring it on, Chick-fil-A!