Last Updated on January 13, 2026 by Brian Kachejian
If you have been scrolling through social media lately, you have probably run across people visiting Chick-fil-A locations in search of the Golden Cup. If you do not know what I am talking about, here is the simple version. Chick-fil-A has started a contest in which customers can purchase a four-dollar plastic cup in a sealed paper bag. There is a chance the cup will be gold-colored, and whoever purchases it is entitled to a free Chick-fil-A entrée once a week for an entire year.
Of course, the company is promoting it as free Chick-fil-A for a year, but it is obviously not unlimited. It is limited to one sandwich or entrée per week. Still, that is not a bad deal.
Here is the kicker. There are only three thousand Golden Cups. That is still a lot better odds than the legendary Willy Wonka golden tickets, which, if I remember correctly, numbered only ten. (Yes, I know it was just a movie). So you have a far better chance of getting a Golden Cup than you ever did of finding a Wonka ticket. But if you really think about it, consider how many people pass through Chick-fil-A drive-throughs every hour of the day. I do not have the statistics in front of me, but I would bet there are thousands and thousands of people ordering these cups every hour across all Chick-fil-A locations. When you look at it that way, you are pretty much buying a lottery ticket.
So the real question becomes whether it is worth taking a chance and spending that four dollars hoping to get a Golden Cup. My answer is inevitably yes, and here is why. When you buy a lottery ticket, especially one of those big Powerball or Mega Millions tickets, you know the odds are incredibly stacked against you, millions to one that you are ever going to win. So why do people still buy them?
The New York Lottery once summed it up perfectly in one of its best campaigns. You have got to be in it to win it. And once you buy that ticket, between the moment you walk out of the store with it in your hand and the moment the drawing is held, you are thinking about all the things you would buy with those millions and millions of dollars. Of course, free Chick-fil-A for a year cannot compete with that kind of money.
But it is those few seconds, as you open the bag, that thrill of the moment, that for me at least, and I think for thousands of others, is worth the price of admission. That is really what this is all about. For many of us, it is the excitement, the anticipation, and the possibility of winning. Chick-fil-A knows this. They also know how addictive that feeling can be, especially for people who already eat Chick-fil-A again and again, hoping that the next cup will be the one.
This has to be one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns I have ever seen. Chick-fil-A is getting people to come back to the store again and again, hoping to get that Golden Cup. The money being spent trying to get these Golden Cups is like the money you spend in those arcade machines, where you keep putting dollar after dollar in, hoping a metallic hand will pick up a stuffed animal that is probably worth ten cents.
People lose their minds trying to win something and spend tons of money to do so. If you do it just one time, that is fine. But I have seen people go into Chick-fil-A and buy 10 cups at a time. This is what happens.
And honestly, I know it makes no sense to do it again. I understand exactly why it is a bad idea, and I am fully aware of how this whole thing works. I am trying to tell myself not to go back, trying to be rational, trying to be the adult in the room. But I also know myself well enough to admit that there is a very good chance I will walk back in there and give it one more shot. Just one more……..or maybe two…..or maybe…..
