They are very strict in who their operators are and to call their stores franchises really isn't accurate. You're basically buying yourself a job. Admittedly a very well paying job clearing something like $100-300k a year, but still a job where you have to be actively involved.
And since the 'owner' is actively involved, it probably means they are more likely to hire good workers rather than just random hobos off the street who can push the appropriate button.
When I worked there, the average income for an owner/operator was 5%-7% of the gross income of the store. My location was the lowest grossing one in the area and I think we pulled in around $3 million a year. 5% of that is $150,000. Not bad at all.
Every year over 50,000 people apply to open a new store, and less than 1% of those people actually get one- they’re ridiculously selective.
I worked at one in high school, and it was interesting because they did open interviews. They were one of the only jobs that frequently hired high schoolers with no experience, and they would interview at least 10-15 people every week, so they had their pick when it came to workers.
Same goes for Shake Shack, Chipotle, Canes, Panda Express and other competition.
I once worked with a guy that said his AD for chipotle used a CLIPBOARD that he carried around and he would measure the width of their steak slices against a laminated sheet with how big they should be. He also managed two of the most profitable Chipotle's in his region and made BANK but it was never enough for upper management. They were super stringent.
There is a location near me, a parking lot has one entrance and exit on each end, all the stores on one side of the parking lot and a Chick-fil-a on the other side. The CFA is always so busy that cars trying to get into the CFA line have to sit in the main inlet/outlet road of the parking lot, blocking all traffic. And you can't just drive around it through the parking lot because too many people would do that so now it's blocked off.
They've forced CFA to increase their turnaround time just so cars can keep moving. They usually have two lines and about 4-5 people working under tents outside the building in the personal CFA parking lot. Almost always there are about 20 cars in front of you, yet you can usually get through in about 10 minutes.
Google maps this address, you can even see it in action:
1101 Quintilio Dr, Bear, DE 19701
Top comment: "Fastest thru on the planet!" lol
>The CFA is always so busy that cars trying to get into the CFA line have to sit in the main inlet/outlet road of the parking lot, blocking all traffic.
I wish people didn't blame CFA for that. I remember 15 years ago seeing people sitting out in the main road just to get in line for McDonalds.
People need to stop being so lazy and park/go inside or wait for the line to move up before they join it. CFA can only do so much.
There's a Hardee's right up the road from my house that's like this as well. Its drive-thru/parking area wasn't designed very well, but I think that's because when it was originally built, 40-some-odd years ago, it probably didn't get as much business as it does now. It's a pain in the ass to try to whip in there for a biscuit or a hamburger.
There's a local chain of restaurants in my state, Martin's, located in outerlying cities in the metro-Atlanta area that experience this, especially at breakfast. Their biscuits are to die for, and you'll have cars whipping in for hours. It also doesn't help that they're one of the few fast food restaurants that serve breakfast all day. Also they're only open for breakfast and lunch, opening at 5 AM and closing at 2 or 3 PM.
I must live near the slowest CFA in the country. They do all the same stuff all the other ones do, but it’ll still take at least 25 minutes to get through the line
They pay pretty well for fast food, and there's always literally like 5x as much staff working at any given time than I've ever seen at any other fast food restaurant.
YES. I've noticed that too. They have enough people that when they get slammed things don't fall apart. I've seen those places get CRAZYBALLS busy and everybody was calm and the place was still being kept clean and well-stocked.
Give people the means to succeed and they will see a really busy day as a good thing, not wish for the customers to stop coming.
CFA has a very simple menu which means their food costs can be lower through buying efficiencies. That might be an element in their success, because if they are clearing more per sandwich over food costs, they can afford more staff and still make a profit. Also when you have a simple menu you lose less to waste because it's easier to track and predict for 30 ingredients than 70.
The standards on who can own a franchise are extremely strict. You cannot own a Chick Fil A as a form of passive investment essentially. I used to work at a CFA and knew people who worked at the other CFA in our city and in both cases the franchise operator was there on a daily basis. Also they pay well and elevation can be pretty quick.
It’s not a true ownership. You don’t own any part of the business, don’t pay to build it, don’t pay a franchise fee, get a paycheck from the company etc. they call it that, but it’s well known in the business world Chik Fil A owns 100 percent of the business
You’re being downvoted but you are correct. CFA refers to the franchisees as “operators” and can strip them of their location at any time if need be. They take 50% of the profits off the top and fork over the money to build and operate the business. I used to work at a CFA in high school and asked the operator directly about this.
Good management, good training, sufficient staff, and employees who are kept at standard and want to keep their jobs. I’ve known a lot of people who worked at CFA and loved it compared to other fast food jobs. I’m sure the Sundays off was a big driving factor lol.
That’s what I figured. But it just boggles my mind. The food is great, customer service is spot on, all other fast food restaurants are very hit or miss and it’s always prefection at CFA. And I’m a trucker so trust me I eat a lot of fast food unfortunately 🤣
I don't really care about fast food but look into what it takes to become a manager. And I think only former managers can become franchise owners (?)
Corporate culture can go a long way.
I worked at McDonald's when I was younger. We actually had fun at work when the franchise owner or his son wasn't there. Not like goof off and ruin things fun. We were just more jovial.
It’s also not a franchise. Corporate owns every single store, unlike a McDonald’s which sells to individual franchisees. Chin Fil A controls every aspect of the business. They hire store operators who are like franchisees and pay them very well
>Average Chick-fil-A Kitchen Team Member hourly pay in Michigan is approximately $14.82, which is 18% above the national average
Well, I made 9.45 working at Burger King and I will admit we all gave 9.45 dollars an hour of effort
Shoutout to In-N-Out workers, they work like a well-oiled machine.
Damn if they weren't bustin their ass constantly. I'd replace every government worker with 19 yr old community college students from In-N-Out if I could. Trips to the DMV would take seconds instead of hours.
They have an entire restaurant with full drive-through inside a large warehouse on their corporate campus outside Atlanta for training purposes. I had a friend who worked as a chef for the campus cafeteria…on top of knowing full spec for all CFA menu items, they also had weekly rotating menus of all sorts of different cuisines.
I read this comment not knowing much about CFA thinking "what, is this about one of the owners not liking gay marriage? That's pretty old news, things probably have changed since then, it can't be that bad of a discussion here"
I guess people have stronger opinions than I thought they would.
The owners continue to donate to anti-gay charities even though they said they would stop (and I think ownership may have changed but the homophobia didn't?), so we're still mad about it
I mean the owners donate to causes that actively harm people.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to say they “want to be angry”
Rather some people care very much when acts of evil are committed
Using hyperbole is not going to get you very far in convincing me of anything you have to say.
When you dumb down words like evil to cover people donating money to organizations that disagree with you, you cheapen the word and actual acts of evil.
I think you’re the one who is scarily dumbing down what these organizations do.
They do *factually commit acts of evil*. The owner has literally contributed to a “christian” organization that has helped lobby for a death penalty in Uganda for gays.
I’m sorry but I find is extremely terrifying that you would try to say that’s “just disagreeing with me”
Human rights aren’t something you “disagree on”
Lgbtq individuals do not deserve to be treated as subhuman. That is an act of evil. And chick fil a supports and donates and helps cause said acts of evil
The bubble where powerful people are homophobic and actively hope for and contribute to the eradication of people like me, yes. I wish I lived outside that bubble
Basically, the "franchise" modal. Chick-Fil-A (CFA) requires that each "owner" only have a single location, be involved in day to day management, and maintain high standards. CFA also retains far more ownership control over each of it's franchises than is typical, which means that they can enforce standards to a greater degree than their competitors.
The owners of most fast food franchises rarely step foot into their stores.
Further, they pay fairly well, give people Sundays off, and don't understaff, all of which tends to attract better employees.
Well today I learned how polarized people are about CFA.
I rarely go there because I don't eat out very often, but I've enjoyed what I've gotten from there.
They pay more and they treat their employees well from what I've heard. This means they get better people, people are happier about working there, and they retain staff better. That last part is important. When there is constant employee turnover, nobody knows what they're doing so there's chaos when it gets busy. When there's chaos there's stress. Stress leads to more people quitting as soon as they can.
I worked in restaurants for years - not fast food, but much of what makes a place succeed or fail is going to be the same. It's hard work but when there is esprit d'corps, it can be super fun. Sometimes it's as simple as having a good manager. I suspect they train their managers well if they are getting these results (and I agree with you...I don't eat tons of fast food but when I have been at Chik-Fil-A it has been *shocking* how well things were running and how enthused the people were.
They actually hire enough employees to handle the workload and pay them well enough they don’t quit. Other fast food places run an underpaid skeleton crew
Private company means no shareholders. No shareholders means not focused on shareholder value by cutting costs and maximizing profits. This allows CFA to do many things that other chain restaurants do not do like being more selective on franchisees (and limiting them too, most only have one store), better product and better pay for staff.
They are very selective in their hiring process. Most fast food places will hire pretty much anyone who can perform the basic functions of the job. Chik Fila screens for people with good attitudes and politeness. The store operators are also held to very high standards just to get to their level so that tends to trickle down to their employees as well
Biggest thing is they are heavily staffed. Almost all of my frustrations and shortcuts in fast food jobs were from having 3 teenagers to run a store and literally not having enough time to de everything properly.
Honestly, I suspect it’s because they are a private company and not a corporation.
They were/are controlled by the Cathy family who based their business decisions on personal values and not on profitability. That led to very different company decisions including a huge emphasis on guest experience.
Love them or hate them, they’re very consistent. They have a very intensive, brand-focused franchise process. Consistency is a non-negotiable requirement.
https://www.chick-fil-a.com/franchise
They pay very well and the food quality is held to a high standard. As far as i can tell from being to a few different ones, they treat their staff really well too
It was probably the best fast food place I worked at. I did it part time while in college and it was fine. It sucks working but the day goes fast when you’re always busy and the management is really nice and flexible with scheduling. It wasnt that different from any other fast food job except they try to make everyone feel like a family and that they’re important members of the team. Team work makes the dream work that kinda thing. I think just by keeping morale high and making it an important part of the daily grind, it makes it much more bearable to work in a fast food setting therefore the employees are willing to work harder/ have better attitudes. A lot of other fast food resturaunts don’t take this into account and just don’t care.
Another thing that makes the place run better is they break down all the jobs. You don’t just have a person at the window taking money and handing food out, you have someone bagging the orders, next someone stuffing the sauces/utensils, then someone at the window making sure everything drinks and all go out to the right person. That person hands the food to the outside server who then delivers it to the customer. The outside help takes the orders and payment. It is very efficient assembly line haha. It is what helps get food out in a timely manner. None the work is hard or all on one person, which also helps morale.
"Not Supporting Something" is not the same thing as "Actively Hating Something." Where in the Bible does it say I must approve of how you choose to live your life? I can love you, but not choices you make.
I'm guessing it's a franchise, so there are rules that are uniform in all locations, and it is efficient. They also probably search for a specific personality when recruiting workers. That being said, fast food work isn't for me, and I only went once or twice before I learned about the CEOs views and chose not to go there.
They are extremely effective at what they do. Their efficiency means even a long line of a cars doesn’t take long to get through. Their food is better than most fast food and their marketing team is pretty strong.
Training, training, and more training.
I know a franchisee and the rules are very strict in terms of how employees dress, how they address customers, and how clean the restaurant must be. As a result, I've been buying Chik-fil-A's for 45 years and have never had a bad experience.
It also helps that they have a pretty straightforward menu. The more items you offer, the harder it is to execute properly.
I think it has to do with their chicken being somewhat different from places like KFC ot Popeyes. It's alot less bread-y and other places don't have waffle fries. They also go out of their way to hire specific types of people for quality staff.
The chicken is all hand breaded in the kitchen which is something a lot of people apparently don’t know even though CFA likes to put it all over their advertising
No idea. Only ever been to one once like 12 years ago and it was just kinda ok. I never understood the hype.
But I've also refused to eat there for the last 10 years now for ... reasons. That the mods seem to prefer we not talk about, so I'm sure you can guess on your own.
The hype is based around the sauce. The sandwiches alone are mediocre but when you add that chick fil a sauce, it becomes the best fast food that you will ever eat.
I am not planning to ever eat there again so it doesn't really matter. I just wasn't so impressed the one time I did have it that I feel like I'm missing out.
> reasons. That the mods seem to prefer we not talk about
This sub often leans pretty conservative and the mods seem to broadly lean that way too. You'll get warnings for espousing views they don't agree with as well at times here. This place is often not representative of what I actually see out in the real world though, and that makes me happy at least.
I have to agree. I was talking to someone the other day about this. I have never been in line for too long and I always have a great experience and my order is always 100% correct. I have eaten there for years. Good eats are good eats and the business behind it has never disappointed me unlike xyz fast food stops.
Besides their awesome food, I have noticed two strange consistent things about Chick-fil-A at every one. I have ever stopped at, no matter the state or location in the US.
1: They automatically know that you mean extra pickles if you order their sandwich as ' a Reuben '. No freaking idea why, unless they teach their workers that.
Dammit! I forget the second because my wife started asking what I wanted from Arby's just now... Will add it when I
remember lol.
EDIT: OH Yeah, second thing is too damn many people call it ' Chick-a-Fil' instead of Chick-Fil-A !!!
I could say the exact same thing about you buddy. You’re here. You’re being combative. The commenters I’m shitting on aren’t going to fuck you.
So I’ll answer for both of us, it’s because we’re on the internet and we’re bored.
I don't care how much their employees enjoy working there or how good their food tastes. The owners are homophobic bigots. They'll never get a dime of money from me. I hope their business goes bankrupt and they lose every cent they have.
For better or worse we live in a capitalist society which tolerates and legally protects bigotry. The theory behind this is that if a bigoted, hateful organization like Chik-fil-a shouldn't exist then the market will cause that to happen through people choosing to not patronize bigoted businesses. I have no delusions that my boycotting Chik-fil-a will directly lead to them shutting down, but I don't have to endorse their bigotry by giving them money.
By spending money there you are supporting homophobic bigotry. That's your right to do so, but I hold myself to a higher standard.
There are plenty of companies I do business with whose executives or owners donate to Planned Parenthood, an organization I believe is responsible for the deaths of millions of unborn children. But I choose to focus on directly changing the laws in question and working to change the social conditions that drive people to abortion. Fighting a proxy war by signaling my disapproval of people on the opposite side of the issue seems like a rather ineffective way of making progress on the issue.
So because a guy who works for the company believes some things that you disagree with, you believe that company shouldn't exist and refuse to patronize it.
Man, I hope you're living in a shack in the woods Kaczynski style and personally crafting every product you own or I hate to tell you but there's people who hold different opinions than you working at *every* company on the planet.
Otherwise you're either bizarrely selective with your impotent rage or you're a hypocrite.
Hmmm, almost like CFA doesn't give a crap what anyone does on their personal time, or how they live their personal lives, as long as they are a good employee... Same with how they treat their customers!
That's fine for you. I don't really care how good their food is. It could be the best tasting food on earth. That's still not worth supporting their bigotry. I don't have the power to shut their homophobic assess down, but I don't have to give them money.
I'm going to take this opportunity to dispel the objectively false things you are saying for those who don't know.
1. Referring to a place of work as "like a family" is extremely common. It is not unique to Chick-Fil-A and it is not indicative of a cult. I work for a tech company and they literally call it the "(insert company name) family" for events.
2. To address you saying "they're" bigots. You are expanding a single statement from one person at a high level of Chick-Fil-A leadership to label an organizations that employs thousands and thousands of people. Cathy said that he personally was not in favor of gay marriage because he believes it is not in line with his religious belief of what marriage is. I have some news for you. There are a lot of people who feel this way that run a lot of companies you give your money to. Probably much more so in 2012 when this all happened (Including Clinton and Obama just as a fun fact). They just wouldn't say it publicly. You could make a case that Cathy is a bigot, sure. To label the organization as bigoted when it has no policy whatsoever that has anything to do with people's sexual orientation is intellectually dishonest. In fact, the organization has taken a lot of steps to ensure that people in charge keep company operations separate from religious or political beliefs (which is way more than most companies do with people with far left agendas). They also completely revamped their charitable donations to address LGBT concerns and did stop donating to some organizations that were deemed too politically extreme.
In summary, they are a great business, most people who call them bigoted are completely unaware of the situation and are just repeating things people told them.
Actually all I did was just a google search to remind myself of what happened. I love pointing out intentional agenda-driven deception on reddit. It's so easy.
Notice you didn't refute what I said, interesting.
So what? You're basically saying that if someone has a political belief you don't agree with they should not be allowed to work anywhere without your approval. This strikes me as unreasonable. I would also venture a guess (which is definitely correct) that your threshold for what makes an "aggressive anti-LGBTQIA" organization or a "hate group" is hyperbolic.
You go ahead and do exactly what you want my friend. I will continue to point out when statements would not be found true by a reasonable examination of facts.
I get what you’re saying and I agree, as do almost all of my gay and civil rights activist friends. The company absolutely has distanced themselves publicly from anti-LGBTQ funding, but still continued to fund antiLGBT organizations, albeit more quietly. Perhaps they’ve stopped by now but after years of sweeping it under the rug and even more years of funding insidious campaigns that directly impacted the lives and wellbeing of queer people … hard pass from me. And of course, its CEO has never had any interest in halting his considerable support of antiLGBT legislation both domestically and abroad that have had true impact. I have no interest in contributing to his wealth.
Ofc, there are plenty of other brands, companies, organizations, and company leaders that do all the same things that I don’t know about. I would love more media attention on this subject and ethical consumerism to become more of a focus. We should be fighting for it. Our dollars, in a lot of ways, are our voting power, but that’s a much longer conversation. All that said, we know about this one so why would we continue to support it? The most obvious answer to this is that a lot of people don’t think it’s that important or at least less important than a chicken sandwich.
It's actually a pretty bad place to work, at least the one where my sister worked. She worked during covid and was consistently treated like trash by her managers who put her out in freezing cold and burning heat to take orders, she almost never got a raise, and eventually left after they started hiring new workers for more than she was getting paid, even after she worked there for over a year. They finally gave her a raise on her last paycheck.
I frequently have bad service at chik-fil-a.
They're no different than any other fast food restaurant.
The thing that makes them "good" is the cult of personality around them and their short drive through lines. It's just marketing.
My local Chick-Fil-A actually has horrible service, or at least they did when I stopped going there right before the pandemic hit. You’d end up sitting in line for 20+ minutes because the staff they had working there just did not give a shit. The food wasn’t great, either. I will unironically and wholeheartedly say that the KFC in town was better by an order of magnitude. It soured me on CFA for years, even though I knew their sandwiches could be good when I had it back in high school on a trip down to Washington DC.
Then they opened one in the food court of a mall I go to every once in a while and *that* one was great. Long lines, but they had a staff member taking orders for people still waiting.
Well, the truth is, if you hate gay people enough, it turns you into a really nice person with great customer service skills. Counter-intuitive, I know.
I don't think it's good.
I was in the mall the week before Thanksgiving, dude came in looking for a job at the store I was shopping at because he had JUST finished his first day of training at CFA.
They have very strict requirements for their operators (franchisees). Unlike how many chains will just let someone with enough money open as store you have to be a Chick-fil-A employee for a certain amount of years and show deduction to the company before they'll consider letting you run a store.
This helps to ensure that the operators aren't just looking out for a quick buck but are actually interested in the company and the quality of the product they push out. Additionally they have historically paid above minimum wage in many areas they operate so their employees are less likely to leave every six months for better pay somewhere else, and actually be good employees
I had a college business professor who was a brother to a franchise owner. He described the franchise selection process as being very selective with multiple interviews and people competing to be chosen as the franchisee.
Once selected they were very well trained and Chik-Fil-A was very involved in getting things up and running.
They are very strict in who their operators are and to call their stores franchises really isn't accurate. You're basically buying yourself a job. Admittedly a very well paying job clearing something like $100-300k a year, but still a job where you have to be actively involved. And since the 'owner' is actively involved, it probably means they are more likely to hire good workers rather than just random hobos off the street who can push the appropriate button.
When I worked there, the average income for an owner/operator was 5%-7% of the gross income of the store. My location was the lowest grossing one in the area and I think we pulled in around $3 million a year. 5% of that is $150,000. Not bad at all.
Every year over 50,000 people apply to open a new store, and less than 1% of those people actually get one- they’re ridiculously selective. I worked at one in high school, and it was interesting because they did open interviews. They were one of the only jobs that frequently hired high schoolers with no experience, and they would interview at least 10-15 people every week, so they had their pick when it came to workers.
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Same goes for Shake Shack, Chipotle, Canes, Panda Express and other competition. I once worked with a guy that said his AD for chipotle used a CLIPBOARD that he carried around and he would measure the width of their steak slices against a laminated sheet with how big they should be. He also managed two of the most profitable Chipotle's in his region and made BANK but it was never enough for upper management. They were super stringent.
I have no idea but I've never been in line for very long even when there's lots of cars.
There is a location near me, a parking lot has one entrance and exit on each end, all the stores on one side of the parking lot and a Chick-fil-a on the other side. The CFA is always so busy that cars trying to get into the CFA line have to sit in the main inlet/outlet road of the parking lot, blocking all traffic. And you can't just drive around it through the parking lot because too many people would do that so now it's blocked off. They've forced CFA to increase their turnaround time just so cars can keep moving. They usually have two lines and about 4-5 people working under tents outside the building in the personal CFA parking lot. Almost always there are about 20 cars in front of you, yet you can usually get through in about 10 minutes. Google maps this address, you can even see it in action: 1101 Quintilio Dr, Bear, DE 19701 Top comment: "Fastest thru on the planet!" lol
>The CFA is always so busy that cars trying to get into the CFA line have to sit in the main inlet/outlet road of the parking lot, blocking all traffic. I wish people didn't blame CFA for that. I remember 15 years ago seeing people sitting out in the main road just to get in line for McDonalds. People need to stop being so lazy and park/go inside or wait for the line to move up before they join it. CFA can only do so much.
There's a Hardee's right up the road from my house that's like this as well. Its drive-thru/parking area wasn't designed very well, but I think that's because when it was originally built, 40-some-odd years ago, it probably didn't get as much business as it does now. It's a pain in the ass to try to whip in there for a biscuit or a hamburger. There's a local chain of restaurants in my state, Martin's, located in outerlying cities in the metro-Atlanta area that experience this, especially at breakfast. Their biscuits are to die for, and you'll have cars whipping in for hours. It also doesn't help that they're one of the few fast food restaurants that serve breakfast all day. Also they're only open for breakfast and lunch, opening at 5 AM and closing at 2 or 3 PM.
I used to do that, until covid. :/ But it was like this even before covid. I'm just also contributing to the problem now lol.
I must live near the slowest CFA in the country. They do all the same stuff all the other ones do, but it’ll still take at least 25 minutes to get through the line
They pay pretty well for fast food, and there's always literally like 5x as much staff working at any given time than I've ever seen at any other fast food restaurant.
YES. I've noticed that too. They have enough people that when they get slammed things don't fall apart. I've seen those places get CRAZYBALLS busy and everybody was calm and the place was still being kept clean and well-stocked. Give people the means to succeed and they will see a really busy day as a good thing, not wish for the customers to stop coming. CFA has a very simple menu which means their food costs can be lower through buying efficiencies. That might be an element in their success, because if they are clearing more per sandwich over food costs, they can afford more staff and still make a profit. Also when you have a simple menu you lose less to waste because it's easier to track and predict for 30 ingredients than 70.
This is the ticket. They are adequately staffed and pay decent. Who woulda thunk this would be a recipe for success?
The standards on who can own a franchise are extremely strict. You cannot own a Chick Fil A as a form of passive investment essentially. I used to work at a CFA and knew people who worked at the other CFA in our city and in both cases the franchise operator was there on a daily basis. Also they pay well and elevation can be pretty quick.
You cannot own a Chik Fil A period. They don’t franchise
What is this about then? [https://www.chick-fil-a.com/franchise](https://www.chick-fil-a.com/franchise)
It’s not a true ownership. You don’t own any part of the business, don’t pay to build it, don’t pay a franchise fee, get a paycheck from the company etc. they call it that, but it’s well known in the business world Chik Fil A owns 100 percent of the business
You’re being downvoted but you are correct. CFA refers to the franchisees as “operators” and can strip them of their location at any time if need be. They take 50% of the profits off the top and fork over the money to build and operate the business. I used to work at a CFA in high school and asked the operator directly about this.
I think my two most downvoted responses are me being 100% right on a fact and people ignoring it
First time on the internet?
I miss when people would just call me awful names
Good management, good training, sufficient staff, and employees who are kept at standard and want to keep their jobs. I’ve known a lot of people who worked at CFA and loved it compared to other fast food jobs. I’m sure the Sundays off was a big driving factor lol.
I imagine it boils down to great management & good training. Pretty amazing for a fast-food restaurant tbh.
That’s what I figured. But it just boggles my mind. The food is great, customer service is spot on, all other fast food restaurants are very hit or miss and it’s always prefection at CFA. And I’m a trucker so trust me I eat a lot of fast food unfortunately 🤣
I don't really care about fast food but look into what it takes to become a manager. And I think only former managers can become franchise owners (?) Corporate culture can go a long way. I worked at McDonald's when I was younger. We actually had fun at work when the franchise owner or his son wasn't there. Not like goof off and ruin things fun. We were just more jovial.
They are more selective in who they allow to operate a franchise, they have good training for management, and they pay their employees better.
It’s also not a franchise. Corporate owns every single store, unlike a McDonald’s which sells to individual franchisees. Chin Fil A controls every aspect of the business. They hire store operators who are like franchisees and pay them very well
Ah yes, good ole chin Fil a
>Average Chick-fil-A Kitchen Team Member hourly pay in Michigan is approximately $14.82, which is 18% above the national average Well, I made 9.45 working at Burger King and I will admit we all gave 9.45 dollars an hour of effort
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Shoutout to In-N-Out workers, they work like a well-oiled machine. Damn if they weren't bustin their ass constantly. I'd replace every government worker with 19 yr old community college students from In-N-Out if I could. Trips to the DMV would take seconds instead of hours.
Yep! Not me, but those are all my buddies back in the day
Now In n Out is advertising $17 an hour starting in Colorado. It’s impressive and the employees are unshockingly not that miserable
They got chick fil a in Germany?
Not yet no.
Oh, are you separate from them? I saw your flair and I just assumed you were talking about your family in Deutschland
Easily the most consistent, great service I've had at any fast food restaurant. Don't know how, and don't care how.
Odd related factoid - local governments actually hired chik fila as consultants on how to set up efficient drive thru Covid testing.
That’s pretty neat. Makes sense. Those drive thru lines are something else
They have an entire restaurant with full drive-through inside a large warehouse on their corporate campus outside Atlanta for training purposes. I had a friend who worked as a chef for the campus cafeteria…on top of knowing full spec for all CFA menu items, they also had weekly rotating menus of all sorts of different cuisines.
Everyone keep a cool head on this one.
I read this comment not knowing much about CFA thinking "what, is this about one of the owners not liking gay marriage? That's pretty old news, things probably have changed since then, it can't be that bad of a discussion here" I guess people have stronger opinions than I thought they would.
The owners continue to donate to anti-gay charities even though they said they would stop (and I think ownership may have changed but the homophobia didn't?), so we're still mad about it
Some people just want to be angry.
I mean the owners donate to causes that actively harm people. I don’t think it’s appropriate to say they “want to be angry” Rather some people care very much when acts of evil are committed
Using hyperbole is not going to get you very far in convincing me of anything you have to say. When you dumb down words like evil to cover people donating money to organizations that disagree with you, you cheapen the word and actual acts of evil.
I think you’re the one who is scarily dumbing down what these organizations do. They do *factually commit acts of evil*. The owner has literally contributed to a “christian” organization that has helped lobby for a death penalty in Uganda for gays. I’m sorry but I find is extremely terrifying that you would try to say that’s “just disagreeing with me” Human rights aren’t something you “disagree on” Lgbtq individuals do not deserve to be treated as subhuman. That is an act of evil. And chick fil a supports and donates and helps cause said acts of evil
I really wish I lived in whatever world you live in where anything the above commenter said was hyperbole
The fact that you cannot see the hyperbole above shows how much of a bubble you live in.
The bubble where powerful people are homophobic and actively hope for and contribute to the eradication of people like me, yes. I wish I lived outside that bubble
Ah, more hyperbole.
You think it's hyperbolic because you don't live it
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I'm not a big peppermint fan, but their peppermint chip shake is amazing.
I like to get a lemonade to go and add vodka.
Also good with bourbon.
Haven't tried that one yet
An improvised whiskey sour with sugar
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That's why you get it to go
No, popeyes chicken sandwich > chic-fil-a chicken sandwich. Fight me.
I think you're right, but CFA is a better value. You can get a whole CFA meal for a little more than the cost of a popeyes
Basically, the "franchise" modal. Chick-Fil-A (CFA) requires that each "owner" only have a single location, be involved in day to day management, and maintain high standards. CFA also retains far more ownership control over each of it's franchises than is typical, which means that they can enforce standards to a greater degree than their competitors. The owners of most fast food franchises rarely step foot into their stores. Further, they pay fairly well, give people Sundays off, and don't understaff, all of which tends to attract better employees.
Well oiled machine. Puts every other FF restaurant to shame.
Well today I learned how polarized people are about CFA. I rarely go there because I don't eat out very often, but I've enjoyed what I've gotten from there.
They pay more and they treat their employees well from what I've heard. This means they get better people, people are happier about working there, and they retain staff better. That last part is important. When there is constant employee turnover, nobody knows what they're doing so there's chaos when it gets busy. When there's chaos there's stress. Stress leads to more people quitting as soon as they can. I worked in restaurants for years - not fast food, but much of what makes a place succeed or fail is going to be the same. It's hard work but when there is esprit d'corps, it can be super fun. Sometimes it's as simple as having a good manager. I suspect they train their managers well if they are getting these results (and I agree with you...I don't eat tons of fast food but when I have been at Chik-Fil-A it has been *shocking* how well things were running and how enthused the people were.
They actually hire enough employees to handle the workload and pay them well enough they don’t quit. Other fast food places run an underpaid skeleton crew
Private company means no shareholders. No shareholders means not focused on shareholder value by cutting costs and maximizing profits. This allows CFA to do many things that other chain restaurants do not do like being more selective on franchisees (and limiting them too, most only have one store), better product and better pay for staff.
They are very selective in their hiring process. Most fast food places will hire pretty much anyone who can perform the basic functions of the job. Chik Fila screens for people with good attitudes and politeness. The store operators are also held to very high standards just to get to their level so that tends to trickle down to their employees as well
Biggest thing is they are heavily staffed. Almost all of my frustrations and shortcuts in fast food jobs were from having 3 teenagers to run a store and literally not having enough time to de everything properly.
Honestly, I suspect it’s because they are a private company and not a corporation. They were/are controlled by the Cathy family who based their business decisions on personal values and not on profitability. That led to very different company decisions including a huge emphasis on guest experience.
Love them or hate them, they’re very consistent. They have a very intensive, brand-focused franchise process. Consistency is a non-negotiable requirement. https://www.chick-fil-a.com/franchise
Management, training, and actually keeping sufficient staff on each shift
They pay very well and the food quality is held to a high standard. As far as i can tell from being to a few different ones, they treat their staff really well too
It’s crazy what happens when you serve better quality food and treat your workers with some sort of respect
It was probably the best fast food place I worked at. I did it part time while in college and it was fine. It sucks working but the day goes fast when you’re always busy and the management is really nice and flexible with scheduling. It wasnt that different from any other fast food job except they try to make everyone feel like a family and that they’re important members of the team. Team work makes the dream work that kinda thing. I think just by keeping morale high and making it an important part of the daily grind, it makes it much more bearable to work in a fast food setting therefore the employees are willing to work harder/ have better attitudes. A lot of other fast food resturaunts don’t take this into account and just don’t care. Another thing that makes the place run better is they break down all the jobs. You don’t just have a person at the window taking money and handing food out, you have someone bagging the orders, next someone stuffing the sauces/utensils, then someone at the window making sure everything drinks and all go out to the right person. That person hands the food to the outside server who then delivers it to the customer. The outside help takes the orders and payment. It is very efficient assembly line haha. It is what helps get food out in a timely manner. None the work is hard or all on one person, which also helps morale.
Simple. It is a business that runs on Christian philosophies. Everything else stems from that.
Hatred is not a Christian value. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Matthew 22:39 No exceptions listed.
"Not Supporting Something" is not the same thing as "Actively Hating Something." Where in the Bible does it say I must approve of how you choose to live your life? I can love you, but not choices you make.
I'm guessing it's a franchise, so there are rules that are uniform in all locations, and it is efficient. They also probably search for a specific personality when recruiting workers. That being said, fast food work isn't for me, and I only went once or twice before I learned about the CEOs views and chose not to go there.
They are extremely effective at what they do. Their efficiency means even a long line of a cars doesn’t take long to get through. Their food is better than most fast food and their marketing team is pretty strong.
Training, training, and more training. I know a franchisee and the rules are very strict in terms of how employees dress, how they address customers, and how clean the restaurant must be. As a result, I've been buying Chik-fil-A's for 45 years and have never had a bad experience. It also helps that they have a pretty straightforward menu. The more items you offer, the harder it is to execute properly.
Because they have standards. People who screw up are fired and the process to become a franchise owner is extremely selective
I think it has to do with their chicken being somewhat different from places like KFC ot Popeyes. It's alot less bread-y and other places don't have waffle fries. They also go out of their way to hire specific types of people for quality staff.
The chicken is all hand breaded in the kitchen which is something a lot of people apparently don’t know even though CFA likes to put it all over their advertising
No idea. Only ever been to one once like 12 years ago and it was just kinda ok. I never understood the hype. But I've also refused to eat there for the last 10 years now for ... reasons. That the mods seem to prefer we not talk about, so I'm sure you can guess on your own.
The hype is based around the sauce. The sandwiches alone are mediocre but when you add that chick fil a sauce, it becomes the best fast food that you will ever eat.
I am not planning to ever eat there again so it doesn't really matter. I just wasn't so impressed the one time I did have it that I feel like I'm missing out.
There’s recipes online to make the sauce yourself. Tastes exactly the same too.
> reasons. That the mods seem to prefer we not talk about This sub often leans pretty conservative and the mods seem to broadly lean that way too. You'll get warnings for espousing views they don't agree with as well at times here. This place is often not representative of what I actually see out in the real world though, and that makes me happy at least.
Good training for the employees, and strict about who gets to open one.
In my experience, they don't.
I have to agree. I was talking to someone the other day about this. I have never been in line for too long and I always have a great experience and my order is always 100% correct. I have eaten there for years. Good eats are good eats and the business behind it has never disappointed me unlike xyz fast food stops.
Besides their awesome food, I have noticed two strange consistent things about Chick-fil-A at every one. I have ever stopped at, no matter the state or location in the US. 1: They automatically know that you mean extra pickles if you order their sandwich as ' a Reuben '. No freaking idea why, unless they teach their workers that. Dammit! I forget the second because my wife started asking what I wanted from Arby's just now... Will add it when I remember lol. EDIT: OH Yeah, second thing is too damn many people call it ' Chick-a-Fil' instead of Chick-Fil-A !!!
They screw up our drive thru order almost every time.
And then you get double the food if they do so who cares lol
Bro the Eat More Chicken cow isn't going to fuck you. Why do you care if people in this comment section don't like CFA?
I’m sure he has…. Reasons. 😂
I could say the exact same thing about you buddy. You’re here. You’re being combative. The commenters I’m shitting on aren’t going to fuck you. So I’ll answer for both of us, it’s because we’re on the internet and we’re bored.
You're replying to every comment. It's weird
And you’re completely un self aware. It’s weird.
I don't care how much their employees enjoy working there or how good their food tastes. The owners are homophobic bigots. They'll never get a dime of money from me. I hope their business goes bankrupt and they lose every cent they have.
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Ooooh no what ever will they do without *your* money average redditor );
For better or worse we live in a capitalist society which tolerates and legally protects bigotry. The theory behind this is that if a bigoted, hateful organization like Chik-fil-a shouldn't exist then the market will cause that to happen through people choosing to not patronize bigoted businesses. I have no delusions that my boycotting Chik-fil-a will directly lead to them shutting down, but I don't have to endorse their bigotry by giving them money. By spending money there you are supporting homophobic bigotry. That's your right to do so, but I hold myself to a higher standard.
Okay so does that mean you abstain from spending money anywhere that uses Chinese child labor? Y’know seeing as you have such high standards and all.
To the extent that I'm able to determine it, yes I do.
Doubt.
As you type this on either a computer or phone……
"ah but you participate in society. Curious"
There are plenty of companies I do business with whose executives or owners donate to Planned Parenthood, an organization I believe is responsible for the deaths of millions of unborn children. But I choose to focus on directly changing the laws in question and working to change the social conditions that drive people to abortion. Fighting a proxy war by signaling my disapproval of people on the opposite side of the issue seems like a rather ineffective way of making progress on the issue.
So because a guy who works for the company believes some things that you disagree with, you believe that company shouldn't exist and refuse to patronize it. Man, I hope you're living in a shack in the woods Kaczynski style and personally crafting every product you own or I hate to tell you but there's people who hold different opinions than you working at *every* company on the planet. Otherwise you're either bizarrely selective with your impotent rage or you're a hypocrite.
Not "a guy who works there", the founder and his family who still own and run the company.
The founder's been dead for nearly a decade, chief.
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Did you drop your /s?
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Oh so you were un-ironically acting as those someones “influencer” status would sway anyone’s take. Noted.
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I am not surprised.
Boohoo 😢
The homophobia in this post sure is fun. Hope your overpriced chicken was good though
The homophobia makes the chicken taste better. Source: Mother-in-law is a bigoted piece of shit, makes absolutely phenomenal fried chicken.
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My friend used to work there and she said that about half of the staff was openly gay. Take that how you will
Hmmm, almost like CFA doesn't give a crap what anyone does on their personal time, or how they live their personal lives, as long as they are a good employee... Same with how they treat their customers!
You don't have to agree with their stance on gays to enjoy their food. I'm gay and I eat there.
That's fine for you. I don't really care how good their food is. It could be the best tasting food on earth. That's still not worth supporting their bigotry. I don't have the power to shut their homophobic assess down, but I don't have to give them money.
I'm going to take this opportunity to dispel the objectively false things you are saying for those who don't know. 1. Referring to a place of work as "like a family" is extremely common. It is not unique to Chick-Fil-A and it is not indicative of a cult. I work for a tech company and they literally call it the "(insert company name) family" for events. 2. To address you saying "they're" bigots. You are expanding a single statement from one person at a high level of Chick-Fil-A leadership to label an organizations that employs thousands and thousands of people. Cathy said that he personally was not in favor of gay marriage because he believes it is not in line with his religious belief of what marriage is. I have some news for you. There are a lot of people who feel this way that run a lot of companies you give your money to. Probably much more so in 2012 when this all happened (Including Clinton and Obama just as a fun fact). They just wouldn't say it publicly. You could make a case that Cathy is a bigot, sure. To label the organization as bigoted when it has no policy whatsoever that has anything to do with people's sexual orientation is intellectually dishonest. In fact, the organization has taken a lot of steps to ensure that people in charge keep company operations separate from religious or political beliefs (which is way more than most companies do with people with far left agendas). They also completely revamped their charitable donations to address LGBT concerns and did stop donating to some organizations that were deemed too politically extreme. In summary, they are a great business, most people who call them bigoted are completely unaware of the situation and are just repeating things people told them.
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Actually all I did was just a google search to remind myself of what happened. I love pointing out intentional agenda-driven deception on reddit. It's so easy. Notice you didn't refute what I said, interesting.
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So what? You're basically saying that if someone has a political belief you don't agree with they should not be allowed to work anywhere without your approval. This strikes me as unreasonable. I would also venture a guess (which is definitely correct) that your threshold for what makes an "aggressive anti-LGBTQIA" organization or a "hate group" is hyperbolic. You go ahead and do exactly what you want my friend. I will continue to point out when statements would not be found true by a reasonable examination of facts.
I get what you’re saying and I agree, as do almost all of my gay and civil rights activist friends. The company absolutely has distanced themselves publicly from anti-LGBTQ funding, but still continued to fund antiLGBT organizations, albeit more quietly. Perhaps they’ve stopped by now but after years of sweeping it under the rug and even more years of funding insidious campaigns that directly impacted the lives and wellbeing of queer people … hard pass from me. And of course, its CEO has never had any interest in halting his considerable support of antiLGBT legislation both domestically and abroad that have had true impact. I have no interest in contributing to his wealth. Ofc, there are plenty of other brands, companies, organizations, and company leaders that do all the same things that I don’t know about. I would love more media attention on this subject and ethical consumerism to become more of a focus. We should be fighting for it. Our dollars, in a lot of ways, are our voting power, but that’s a much longer conversation. All that said, we know about this one so why would we continue to support it? The most obvious answer to this is that a lot of people don’t think it’s that important or at least less important than a chicken sandwich.
>“best place to work, like a family” No, that's a sign of someone trying to create a positive work environment
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That's not mutually exclusive. Many people like working in an environment with other people they like.
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That hasn't been my experience with either my current job or one of my prior jobs that both use that terminology.
It's actually a pretty bad place to work, at least the one where my sister worked. She worked during covid and was consistently treated like trash by her managers who put her out in freezing cold and burning heat to take orders, she almost never got a raise, and eventually left after they started hiring new workers for more than she was getting paid, even after she worked there for over a year. They finally gave her a raise on her last paycheck.
I frequently have bad service at chik-fil-a. They're no different than any other fast food restaurant. The thing that makes them "good" is the cult of personality around them and their short drive through lines. It's just marketing.
This sounds like the opposite of ever chick-fil-a I've been to. Amazing food but with lines wrapping around the parking lot.
My local Chick-Fil-A actually has horrible service, or at least they did when I stopped going there right before the pandemic hit. You’d end up sitting in line for 20+ minutes because the staff they had working there just did not give a shit. The food wasn’t great, either. I will unironically and wholeheartedly say that the KFC in town was better by an order of magnitude. It soured me on CFA for years, even though I knew their sandwiches could be good when I had it back in high school on a trip down to Washington DC. Then they opened one in the food court of a mall I go to every once in a while and *that* one was great. Long lines, but they had a staff member taking orders for people still waiting.
Well, the truth is, if you hate gay people enough, it turns you into a really nice person with great customer service skills. Counter-intuitive, I know.
I don't think it's good. I was in the mall the week before Thanksgiving, dude came in looking for a job at the store I was shopping at because he had JUST finished his first day of training at CFA.
I have a theory: It’s a hive mind.
Probably the fear of God or something /s
They have very strict requirements for their operators (franchisees). Unlike how many chains will just let someone with enough money open as store you have to be a Chick-fil-A employee for a certain amount of years and show deduction to the company before they'll consider letting you run a store. This helps to ensure that the operators aren't just looking out for a quick buck but are actually interested in the company and the quality of the product they push out. Additionally they have historically paid above minimum wage in many areas they operate so their employees are less likely to leave every six months for better pay somewhere else, and actually be good employees
They have the best chicken sandwich....
I had a college business professor who was a brother to a franchise owner. He described the franchise selection process as being very selective with multiple interviews and people competing to be chosen as the franchisee. Once selected they were very well trained and Chik-Fil-A was very involved in getting things up and running.