Why Doesn't Chick-Fil-A Have Cheesecake On Its Menu Anymore?

Nostalgia plays a huge role when it comes to food. It's the taste of your grandma's banana cream pie on your birthday, or that car ride to Chick-fil-A for a slice of cheesecake. Or maybe it was the Chick-fil-A walnut-filled brownie, lemon pie, or those cinnamon clusters. When people reminisce about the fast food giant's bygone menu items, it's these desserts that come up most often.

Chick-fil-A's cheesecake dates back to the early decades of the brand, when the original Dwarf House in Atlanta began expanding into suburban shopping mall food courts and, eventually, stand-alone restaurants. Throughout those years, the cheesecake was a menu staple, but in 2012, it was retired — along with the longtime lemon pie – as the chain rolled out a new dessert lineup featuring chocolate-chunk cookies, sundaes with Hershey's syrup, and fudge brownies without walnuts.

The memory lives on, though: Reddit threads reminisce about its flaky crust, a Change.org petition was launched to bring back the cheesecake and the brownie, and a Facebook page called for its return. Still, after all these years, would it taste the same as you remember it?

Chick-fil-A has built its modern business strategy on a simple and focused menu of consistent items. It's a big reason why people eat at Chick-fil-A. You always know exactly what you'll get, whether it's a fried chicken sandwich served only with pickles, nuggets that are hot and juicy every time, or the waffle fries dipped in the signature Chick-fil-A sauce. That's why it hits so hard when you pull up to the drive-thru and find your favorite item is gone for good.

That's exactly what happened to me about 10 years ago when I ordered my usual chicken salad sandwich and fries — the same order that I got for the first time at the McAlister Square shopping mall just a few years after I learned to walk. The loss cut so deep it almost made me start a Facebook page to find my fellow chicken salad sympathizers.

For some, it's the carrot and raisin salad, the discontinued Chick-fil-A menu item some say no one actually wanted, but lasted for nearly half a century on the menu. Or, maybe it's the fried chicken, egg, and cheese bagel that became popular as the restaurant rose in the fast food breakfast world. If Chick-fil-A ever brings back the cheesecake — or the other bygone menu items — hearing "my pleasure" at the window will really feel mutual.