While Americans are eating less fast-food on a national basis, according to recent data, Santa Clarita has been expanding its local offerings, based on new locations and plans at City Hall.
For fast-food aficionados, a new Chick-fil-A just arrived at The Old Road on the west side, a new Chipotle on Sand Canyon to the east and another McDonalds is going right in the middle of town off Valley Center Drive, alongside a new Dutch Bros. drive-thru location.
The string of openings comes as the National Center for Health Statistics announced fewer Americans are relying on fast food for their daily calories, according to a June survey that looked at a nine-year trend.
“The percentage of calories consumed from fast food by adults on a given day decreased from 14.1% during 2013 to 2014 to 11.7% during August 2021 to August 2023,” according to the NCHS report.
However, fast food also remains a daily experience for tens of millions of Americans: Approximately 32% of adults over 20 consume calories from fast food in a given day.
McDonald’s is working on two new ways to deliver those meals.
In terms of the restaurant’s current setup at Bouquet Junction, McDonald’s is not loving it. The owner put in a request to demolish the spot and rebuild its location designed around the more popular double-queue drive-thru on the Valencia side of Bouquet Canyon Road that would allow for a higher traffic volume.
Just down the road, a new location is looking to open across the street from where College of the Canyons previously planned to construct an advanced technology center, near the intersection of Valley Center Drive and Soledad Canyon Road.
Those plans also call for a Dutch Bros. Coffee drive-thru-only location. The Oregon roaster also has submitted plans for a small location near the Barnes & Noble in Valencia, but that has not been built yet, either.
Chipotle’s new location on Village Way across from a major Sand Canyon plaza is now taking orders.
Chick-fil-A on The Old Road, next to Interstate 5, is the Santa Clarita Valley’s second location and has been operating since May 8. There have been plans in the works for a third off Soledad Canyon Road, west of Golden Valley Road.
All three major chains have reported expansion plans for 2025, with Newport Beach-based Chipotle announcing in June it plans to open approximately 300 locations this year, according to the online trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News. Chick-fil-A reported 5.4% growth in 2024, nearly $23 billion in sales, according to the industry-focused Restaurant Business.
In March, Dutch Bros. forecast its annual growth at 20%, with a plan to double its number of locations to approximately 2,000 by 2029, in a March Restaurant Dive article.
