I want to know why social issues and businesses got all mixed up together. What does gay marriage have to do with a chicken sandwich? The pessimist side of me wonders if they think that choosing a corporate position on an issue will generate more business from supports of that position.
Turn it up to 11:
So Hitler opens an ice cream shop with the best gelato on earth. Do you patronize it?
Back down to 9.5: A fast food company supports extremely homophobic candidates and organizations at the top level, but has great employees and good food. Do you patronize it?
Even worse: Himmler and Goebbels are thinking, “If ‘AH’ is doing it, we can too. (And if we don’t, he might bury us.)” Soon, it’s nothing but “NAZI Gelato!”
And then a cabal led by Rommel says, "Screw that gelato stuff, we’re takin’ over and we’re takin’ it to Heil Froyo!
Then here comes Emperor Hirohito with…eh, I got nuthin.
I dunno, they’re certainly up there, but I would have thought that KFC would be the top.
Wait, we’re not discussing what chain is the poultriest?
Yes and yes. I realize different people have political disgreements with Chic-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby, as well as Starbucks and Sonic on the other end. I don’t care. I’m not making a political contribution, I’m buying a product. If Company A provides a better or tastier product in a friendlier fashion, well allrighty then. What they do with their leftover profits is of little concern. Now, if you have two companies that are equal in every other way, then perhaps political alignment would be a tie-breaker.
I like Chic-Fil-A pretty well. Their employees ARE consistently friendly and helpful, something that can’t be said for a lot of fast food chains, though I would say that Five Guys and In-N-Out are quite friendly, too, off the top of my head.
Okay. If you think the policies of the wealthy owners and their product are on different continua, that’s a valid viewpoint, I guess.
An awful lot of people feel otherwise and wouldn’t, say, go to a fitness place run by Scientologists, no matter how much of a disconnect there is supposed to be between the sides.
Irrelevant to me; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a CFA in my area. Might have driven by one. But I stopped patronizing Denny’s a long time ago for parallel reasons.
Yeah, I decided that if the Cathy family wanted to spend their money to be on the wrong side of history, that was their business. It might delay it, but was doubtful to have a lot of effect outside of ginning up the dwindling SB convention. On the balance, they also have other non-controversial, laudable charities. Plus, they deliver the prefect fried chicken sammich. I’ve been addicted to it since I was a child.
The perfect mochi shop, presenting it in it’s purest form?
Yeah, I’d probably eat there, too.
Is it nice that Chick–fil-a hires people who are as polite to me as I am to them? Yes. But, I generally assume that anyone working the drive-through is having a harder day than I am. A lot of the time, it’s obvious. Chick-fil-a usually has 1 or 2 people actively helping the person working the drive-through fill the orders quickly. Their secret to providing happy, non-stressed service is probably largely due to their knowing what level staffing that level of service requires.
The one that opened near me recently is insanely busy most of the time. They often have one worker outside the drive thru helping customers get their order and directing them to where they need to go when there is a delay. I agree one of the keys to their success is they seem to be willing to have a few more staff members on duty in order to keep things running smoothly.
They make a fine chicken sandwich. And a fine chicken biscuit. And good iced tea, which hard to find in a fast food place.
I think you mean “providing enough staff” but I’ve had plenty of bad experiences where five or six people were standing around behind the counter being hostile 'cuz their BS session was being interrupted by all these damn customers.
And, yet, on the scale of timeliness of delivery of food in the drive through, Chick-fil-A is one of the slower companies, consistently. Fortunately, when it comes to accuracy, they are usually one of the top three. I’ll take the latter over the former any day.
At Chick-fil-A? That’s never been my experience. I’m not a frequent customer because until recently there wasn’t one close by. But every time I’ve been in there they have not only been fully staffed, the manager has been right there in the front making sure everything is running smooth. Often my interaction was directly with the manager while the workers moved to get the orders taken care of. Each time I’ve been there it’s moved very efficiently even when packed.
No, sorry, I should have been more clear. I’ve never been to/in a CFA.
Burger King, usually. Some Taco Bells. But all of the majors, at least once or twice.
If they don’t tell me to pull around and wait every time I use the drive-through, I’m good. I hate doing that unless I put in a really large order that I understand will take more time than some of the people behind me, but there was a McD’s in CA that asked me to do this every single time. I finally just said no and waited (sometimes 30 whole seconds… on top of everything else I often could see my order walking across the lobby as I pulled around. Serious WTF/O.
I’ve recently decided to abstain from Subway. The local branch expanded its base to include an eating area, but frequently when I was using it they’d deliberately place chairs or cleaning equipment in the passageway and leave the only other point of egress locked. And cancelling their only non-shitty bread was the last straw.
as if the flies buzzing around behind the sneeze guard wasn’t enough. bleck.
Agreed. Because they’re so popular/food’s that good, maybe?
The CFA nearest me has two drive-thru lanes for ordering which, unfortunately, converge into one before you get to the window. It does slow things down a bit. CFAs do have a very decent traffic flow pattern painted on the parking lot, but nobody pays any attention to it.
The one that used to be nearest me (I moved up the road a few miles) is a nightmare at certain times of the day. It has two separate ordering lanes which stay separate; the outer lane has its own little kiosk that gets the food from an overhead conveyor belt, while the drinks are fixed right there in the kiosk. It seems faster, but I’m so enthralled with the set-up that I never time it. But. At lunchtime, they have a cop directing traffic off their lot because they are on a freeway feeder road (both entrance and exit) with a tiny parking lot. Did I mention they’re in a SuperWalmart parking lot? Next to a Junk-in-the-box? The line to order is sometimes 100 yards long–back from the ordering stanchion, making a right turn and going in front of the WM and down the street (not in the WM parking lot). JITB never seems busy. The CFA does have a nice misting system if you want to sit outside to eat on a typically warm (450[sup]o[/sup]K) Houston day. If you can run the gauntlet.
Here some Chik-fil-A’s have cops directing traffic into the stores because they’re so busy.
StG
I never found Chick-fil-A as that polite, but then, my only experience with them is in the food court near Dragon*Con. I could understand if they’re somewhat overworked at that point. 