Chick-fil-A Goes Halal... in Canada!

So there I was, driving down the street in a suburb of Toronto when I noticed they had closed a KFC that I used to stop at. A sign read "Coming soon - Chick-fil-A". Well, that's what my mind saw at least.

I was excited to see that the American franchise was finally making a debut in Canada so I happily anticipated the grand opening. I came back around that part of town a month later and sure enough - it was open!

So I pulled in, walked inside, and cowboy-ed up to the counter. As I looked at the menu board on the wall I found myself eerily unfamiliar with the items listed. "Oh well", I thought, "must be the Canadian version of the menu".

So I ordered a half chicken with potatoes and paid. As I waited I began to notice some of the nuances of the place. All of the people behind the counter were of a certain ethnic persuasion. Even the customers were, shall we say, very Arab-looking.

As I continued waiting a couple of gentlemen walked in and asked to speak with the owner. A tall, good-looking man emerged from the back office and you guessed it - Arab.

He sat down with the two gentlemen who requested his audience and can you guess what language they were conversing in? Right. Arabic.

I started to get a little concerned, not for my safety or any such thing, the people were nice enough. I was getting worried that I just wasted fifteen bucks on food I wasn't used to and would surely not enjoy.

I noticed a to-go menu on the counter and I walked up to it, grabbed one, and began reading. Sure enough, in my zeal to taste the fine food I was used to at Chick-fil-A, I had failed to notice that the spelling was different. It sounds out as "Chick-fil-A" but was, in this case, spelled "Chick-felays".

Oops, my bad. And yes, you might also have guessed that if you look around the menu for a second you will sure enough find the word "Halal"


Halal (Arabic: حلال‎ ḥalāl, "permissible") is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law. The opposite of this word is haraam.


Arabic food laws, rules, etc are largely borrowed from the more ancient Jewish laws of eating and etiquette. And I must admit, the food was quite good... and I may go back for the ribs. But I wonder how Mr Cathy, President of the American, non-Halal version called "Chick-fil-A" would feel about having his franchise name (or the equivalent sounding version) hijacked by the Canadian Muslims. 


There are several franchises scattered around the greater Toronto area. Make sure you have lots of time as the meals are cooked fresh to order. As for our American friends - we salute you Mr Cathy - for the stand you are taking in favor of family values. We salute you.