I don’t know if this is a Great debate or a Cafe Society question or discussion. You decide.
I live abroad but come back to my hometown in the Southeastern USA every couple of months. One thing I find absolutely amazing is this insane love for a fast food chain called Chick-fil-A. At lunch and dinner there are lines and lines of cars at their drive-thrus. I have even taken a video on it one Saturday evening where there are over thirty cars waiting at the drive thru.
I have personally not eaten in one since the 1990’s. Part of that has to do with me being out of the country for 14 years but I have been returning home the past five years and have never had the urge to go there. I know their food and menu and honestly find it to be very simplistic and mediocre. Not awful and again, mediocre is the best word to describe them. Now, chicken is my favorite meat and fried chicken is about my favorite food. If I were to want a fried chicken sandwich there is almost anywhere else I would rather go than Chick-Fil-A. Hell, even McDonalds has a better chicken sandwich in my opinion.
I honestly think that it isn’t the food that people like about Chick-fil-A so much as the “culture” of the company. While I have seen people of all races work and eat in their locations, I think that mainly white, conservative, suburban and especially Christian people go there. Chick-fil-A seems akin to their “values” and it seems a place that they feel the need to support as part of their beliefs and even their patriotism (and Chick-fil-A drums up that patriotism, “our troops” thing).
Then there was the comment that the founder/owner of this chain said about marriage should be between a man and a woman and drawing the heated ire of the homosexual movement caused a culture war, which actually I think helped their business and again, it is the conservative, Christian folks who support it, when again, their food is truly very average and mediocre and probably expensive.
I mean, here is their menu…
It’s not their food it is their “culture” that draws the crowd. What am I missing?
I don’t get it either. I mean, it’s good when someone brings it home for me, but I wouldn’t ever choose to go there myself. Same with in n out. Way more hype than actual quality. Nevermind the religious crap both are burdened with. Which is maybe the draw that I’m missing?
One opened in Bellevue, and they still have police directing traffic nearly two years later. Given their stance toward LGBT community, I’ve never felt the urge to eat there.
Satanist Leader: “Hail Satan, it is done. Well, thanks for coming, everyone. Brother Jason was kind enough to furnish this week’s food. It’s Chick-fil-A. I know, they’re on the Christian right, but darned if that chicken isn’t good. I think the Dark Lord would understand.”
TOTALLY leaving aside their politics, speaking strictly as a business, they have accomplished a number of savvy strategies:
Their fried chicken tastes noticeably different from similar offerings from other fast food chains. It’s much more heavily marinated than other places’ chicken before being fried, which makes it more tender and also just more ‘memorable’ tasting which is always a good strategy. Along the same lines it’s also not as heavily covered with batter, and the pieces are even shaped differently. Doing something to make your product stand out, even in a very trivial way, is virtually always a smart move as long as it doesn’t involve an outright gimmick.
They serve waffle fries rather than the type of fries that can be found at virtually every other fast food joint. Again, it’s distinctive, and they’re good fries too - not too greasy, not too ‘gritty’ textured, and seemingly made of higher quality potatoes than are typically found with such meals.
Their ad campaign with the cows is really clever. I know a lot of people probably think it’s very obnoxious, juvenile, and annoying, but I think it’s actually clever as hell. The poorly spelled “eat mor chiken” signs and the idea of cows being ironically used to market chicken is something that grabs the attention of curious children, who are, of course, a major demographic that fast food chains need to target. Because their food has a distinctive taste, AND their visual ads have a very distinctive look, the combination is effective at locking in customer loyalty on a subconscious level.
They train their staff to be, well…for lack of a better word…really, really good at their damn job. Every time I’ve ever been there I noticed that their employees actually look like they’re busting ass, not dragging ass, to get everyone’s orders ready, and they never seem jaded or surly. Yeah I know, the inevitable retort that they’re just being robots putting on an artificial front mandated by the management. I’m not so sure. I think I’m decent at reading peoples’ body language and faces, especially people in the workplace, and either they go through intensive acting training as part of their hiring process, or they for the most part are genuinely enthusiastic to be doing their job.
I don’t go there that often, but every once in a while. I do not agree with their political stance, but I am also not naive enough to think that my $7 is going to make a goddamn bit of difference one way or the other. If it’s not me buying the food there, it’ll be someone else.
I was TDY in Albuquerque this week and went there a couple times for lunch with my coworker. (The one at Gibson Blvd. and University Blvd.) I had never been there before.
My impression? Much better than your typical fast-food chain. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. Despite the large number of customers, service was fast and efficient. I ordered a chicken salad without cheese, and it was very good. One of the staff was going table-to-table and offering pepper using a grinder. Another staff member was going table-to-table and offering to dispose trash.
After just two visits I notices the exact same thing: staff seemed very friendly, almost like they were on happy-drugs. Not a slacker or bad attitude in sight. Not sure how they achieve this.
They don’t have a huge presence here in the Boston area. Their website lists 16 locations in Massachusetts, which sort of amazes me – I’m not familiar with their free-standing restaurants around here; what I mostly see are the ones in the malls. Although they aren’t overwhelmed, I do notice that you can often see a line waiting for Chick-Fil-A even when the other places at the Food Court are empty. Their stuff is different and pretty good, but it’s not THAT much better. I have to conclude that a lot of the people in line are attracted as much by the message as the food.
and I have to admit that, until their well-publicized anti- LGBTQ stand became known, I found much admirable in this – their restaurants were closed on Sundays for religious reasons, unlike all the other places in the Food Court. One of the giveaways with the kids meal was an abbreviated version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (well before the movies came out), which was a case of projecting their Christian values without being obnoxious or mawkish about it.
I never got into the habit of Chick-Fil-A even before their rabid wingnuttery was apparent, because of the not-open-on-Sundays deal and because they were always the most expensive fast food choice even when they were running specials. I’m not a small or sedentary person and 1 of their sandwiches and fries is not enough. Plus we couldn’t afford them growing up so I didn’t grow up on them.
Just before the homophobia, I was well off enough to afford them but I still didn’t go there due to the “no one goes there because it’s so crowded” effect.
I got to know them in the early 1990’s while stationed in Ft. Gordon, GA. Even then, people said how good they were, but I seldom had the opportunity to try them because they were only located in shopping malls (no free-standing stores, then), and closed on Sundays to boot.
To my 18 year old palette, they were unremarkable, kind of like that other weird, southern think called Krystal Burger.
Several months ago while returning from a business trip, I happened across a Chick-Fil-A outside of Toledo, and thought I’d give them a try. The food was as completely uninspired as I remembered, but, damn, the operations of the restaurant really, really impressed me. The really, really long drive-through was fast, well organized by actual human order takers, and food given to me as I arrived at the window. I’m not sure if this was an opening day or a normal lunch crowd, but if every restaurant could have a drive through operate like this, I’d probably eat more fast food.
I think Chick-fil-A’s success is largely because their food is delicious and they have excellent customer service. I find their chicken sandwiches are delicious, their waffle fries are okay, their sodas never tastes off, and they aren’t any more expensive than McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Burger King. And as far as customer service goes they are hitting it out of the ballpark. Their employees are polite, they rarely make mistakes, despite the long lines at the drive-thru they get you through quickly, and if you eat inside you will find the restaurant invariably clean.
They have a corporate culture dedicated to providing their customers with delicious food and excellent customer service. I promise you that even Evangelicals would not go to Chick-fil-A if the food was bad just to prove a point.
I think the word you’re grasping for is “a screeching howling right-wing virtue signal”. That is absolutely part of the appeal. Plus the banal parochialism of “this is a southern thing, let’s support it”. It’s why Atlantans think that the Coke museum is an important part of history that every Northern visitor should experience.
But let’s talk about the Chik-Fil-A dining in itself. In my opinion, it’s better-than-average fast food and better-than-average service. The restaurants are always clean; the service is always fast, friendly, and high-effort. At least in my opinion, I think its chicken sandwich is better than any other fast food joint’s chicken sandwich. I go there when I want fast food and I want something marginally healthier than a beef burger. The politics bother me, but not enough to turn down a very decent chicken sandwich.
I’ve never tried their food, nor can I see myself ever wanting to try it. Totally philosophical reasons. I’m an atheist, and the older I get, the more anti theist I lean.
Never eaten at Chick-Fil-A. Not because I don’t agree with their politics (I don’t), but rather I tend to only find myself near one on Sundays, when they’re closed, thus, I’ve never gone in there.
There is none close to me, but in my travels I have gone there a handful of times. Mostly to see what the hype is about but never found it in the taste.
However I need to add that I have eaten at placed that are run by want many here would consider religious fanatic of various types/denominations (Christian, Buddhist, Hindu to name 3) , over the years and sometimes there is ‘something’ that makes the food taste much better then it should. I also compare this to a good friend who when she invites me for dinner cooks amazing food. I have helped her cook and have gotten the recipes from her, but never was able to duplicate the extra goodness that she is able to make.
IMHO the ingredient that does this is love. It’s easy to see from my friend as she is perhaps the most loving heart person I have known, the very heart of God. I would suspect that people with love for others work at those places, as God is Love and those seeking God will typically find themselves at least at some point doing things with a religious group such as these places. This would also be somewhat supported by the observations that the staff are happy and hard working. They are doing the work for the love of people and for God.