chick fil a yorkdale

The lineup for Toronto's new Chick-fil-A at Yorkdale spans two floors

You've heard of lineups that go down the block and around the corner — heck, if you live in downtown Toronto, you've probably seen quite a few of them in real life.

A lineup that goes across an entire mall food court, down an escalator, and into a lineup with security guards that sprawls down a second floor? 

Congratulations, Chick-fil-A: you just got Toronto to out-Toronto itself.

The new fried chicken joint at Yorkdale Shopping Centre remains lined up to the point of absurdity roughly two weeks after opening, suggesting once again that Yorkdale shoppers will spend hours waiting for food from new-to-Canada restaurant chains.

Chick-fil-A in Yorkdale is only the American fast food brand's second Canadian location.

The first, at Yonge and Bloor, drew similar crowds for about a month after opening in September, but is now relatively tame in terms of lineups (with far less protests now than when it originally launched.)

Those who've been waiting to try Chick-fil-A at Yorkdale are learning quickly how popular the chain is, even despite its ties to anti-LGBT hate groups.

The new location is so busy that a security person has reportedly been stationed to guide people from the front of the ground floor line to the back of the second-floor line via escalator.

"I thought we were having another early black Friday sale at Yorkdale," wrote one shopper on Twitter last week. "To my greatest surprise, it's a line up for Chick-fil-A."

Strange, if not even offensive, as it may be to see the Chick-fil-A food court doing so well, its success begs an important question: Does this mean fewer people are lining up for Cheesecake Factory?

When one door closes another one opens, or so they say. Hopefully the idiom applies to food outlets at Yorkdale Mall. 

Lead photo by

Jeff Veillette


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