The One Thing Chick-Fil-A Changed In The Past Decade We Still Hate

For any restaurant to stay afloat, it has to change. The changes don't necessarily have to be big ones (like giant menu overhauls), they could be relatively simple like staying open a couple extra hours or adding a new payment option. Change, though, is essential. 

Like so many other fast food restaurants out there, Chick-fil-A is constantly tinkering around in their chicken lab with changes to how their business operates. While some businesses seem to almost do more harm than good with their changes — looking at you, Burger King — Chick-fil-A is overall on the right track. A company doesn't become "America's favorite fast food" by accident, according to the American Consumer Service Index (via Today).

Over the last 10 years, most of the changes at the company have been for the better. Chick-fil-A adopted a "no antibiotics ever" policy and rolled out numerous refreshing new menu items (via The Chicken Wire). As for the food changes that Chick-fil-A has made over the past decade, though, many people feel that some of them just plain suck. As much as we love the addition of macaroni and cheese on Chick-fil-A's menu, where's the coleslaw? 

In late 2015, Chick-fil-A fans were hit with some bad news — the restaurant was getting rid of coleslaw (via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). "Chick-fil-A has made the difficult decision to remove Cole Slaw from the menu on Jan. 18," read a company statement. Not surprisingly, people on social media were not happy about it and mourned the loss of the popular side item. 

It's not unusual for restaurants to try new items and scrap them when they don't work, which is what made the removal of the coleslaw so unusual. Chick-fil-A's coleslaw was anything but new and had actually been on the menu since the first Chick-fil-A opened in 1967, and prior to that, it was a staple on founder Truett Cathy's Dwarf House restaurant (via The Chicken Wire). 

Chick-fil-A admitted that the coleslaw was a fan favorite, but regardless, they said that it was time for it to go. "We know many of our customers love our Cole Slaw, yet we have also heard from them they are looking for new tastes and healthier ways to eat in our restaurants," their statement continued. "To provide this variety means we will occasionally have to remove items from our menu."

Not cool, Chick-fil-A. Not cool. 

By the end of January 2016, nary a bowl of coleslaw could be found in Chick-fil-A's restaurants and it was the dawning of a new era — kale had taken over. Despite pleas on the company's Facebook page from customers crying, "BRING BACK THE SLAW!!!" Chick-fil-A had opted for a salad. Dubbed the "superfood side," the salad — which is still around — is a broccolini and kale blend with maple vinaigrette dressing, dried cherries, and walnuts.

Launched in the middle of the "kale boom," it did have considerably fewer calories than the coleslaw (via Fox News). "The Superfood Side is not something you would expect to see at a fast food restaurant, and we're thrilled to kick off 2016 with something that can help people stick to their New Year's resolutions to eat healthfully," Chick-fil-A's vice president of menu strategy and development, David Farmer, said at the time (via Orlando Sentinel). 

Still, it was kale and a lot of people were sad to see the coleslaw disappear. 

Even if it is possible to make kale less terrible, the loss of coleslaw for kale and broccolini was a blow to fans. Thankfully, Chick-fil-A had a solution to help take out some of the sting. 

In order to stop folks from rioting at Chick-fil-As — or at least have its customers be a little less sad — the restaurant did do something pretty cool. They opened the Chick-fil-A recipe vault and shared the full recipe for their signature coleslaw. The company announced the decision to share the recipe that had been kept a secret for more than 70 years on social media as a sign of good grace. "Because this recipe holds a special place in our hearts and history, we are excited to give it to you to enjoy at home," read the recipe's message (via Business Insider).

While the coleslaw may not have had the kale salad's accolades of being developed by a James Beard Award nominee, it was still a bummer to see it disappear from the Chick-fil-A menu. As we said, though, change is just part of the restaurant business.