For what it is worth:
In the local Chick-fil-A where I live, if I see students or former students of mine working there, they are more likely to be my better students. Further, they tend to work there longer than I find usual at places like Mickey D’s.
Clearly, there is some benefit they attach to working for the company. The company gets to pick from a better class of employee as a result, it would seem.
One of the things I love about them is that a very good friend of mine has a special needs child (the kid’s around 19 years old and will probably need adult assistance for the rest of his life) and Chick Fil A has a part time job for him that he loves and allows him to earn money and gain what bit of independence he can. I’ve noted this at most of the Chick-Fil-As I’ve visited and at almost none of the other fast food establishments around here. I mean, I don’t like aspects of their politics, but I feel the good they do outweighs the bad. Such is life. So I continue to patronize their establishment.
Why would people think that? The business is still owned by the Cathy family.
You’re comparing the cheapest menu items at Wendy’s to Chick-fil-A. Those .99 cent chicken sandwiches at aren’t even comparable to the other chicken sandwiches Wendy’s offers including the home style, spicy, and grilled versions which go for about $4.69. A home style chicken combo comes out to about $6.70 at Wendy’s and pretty close to the same about for a Chick-fil-A combo.
OK, so to be fair, compare it to the cheapest items Chick-Fil-A offers.
So why don’t they? Build more stores, and the lines won’t be as long. If there are really 50% more potential customers out there, then build 50% more stores.
It seems to me that most fast food workers these days are not high school students. They’re middle aged, often Hispanics. Is Chick-fil-A different?
well if the rumors are true ill get to try one my self in 3-6 months as there supposedly building one in a new retail development
I hate their politics but love their sandwiches.
Actually the “closed Sunday” thing doesn’t bother me; I think it’s cool that fast food workers can have at least one day a week that they are guaranteed not to be called in. The employees there do seem happier and busier than average.
The newer builds around my area have just MASSIVE drive throughs. We’re talking double-lane, hugely extended drive-thru lanes that can easily accommodate 30 vehicles during the lunch rush. Even if the line is long, they are pretty impressive with how quickly and efficiently they move the lines along, inside and out.
If I refused to eat at or do business with every single corporation that annoys me with their political messages, religious messages, and general corporate greed, where the hell would I shop?
You’re still comparing a budget item to a mid-tier item. The Wendy’s .99 cent chicken sandwich is both smaller and the meat of lower quality than any one of the three regular chicken sandwiches they offer. I’m a fan of Wendy’s and would rather have their spicy chicken sandwich to Chick-fil-A’s spicy chicken. But comparing a budget item to a mid-tier item isn’t exactly fair. Sure, Wendy’s wins on price with this one but the .99 cent sandwich is an inferior product to even other Wendy’s products.
Because businesses are complicated and growing too quickly can bite you in the ass later. See Krispy Kreme as an example.
I enjoy their food but I don’t go there because of their politics. I don’t have a problem with closing on Sunday even though that is when I’d usually go to a place like that. I think it is good for workers to have one day they can rely on having off. Some of the things they do I could really get behind, such as this story:
However it’s the owners particular version of Christianity and the organizations they support that keeps me from ever giving them my money.
At the Chick fil A’s I patronize, most of the workers are high school or college age. The managers are somewhat older.
If anything, I know more people who explicitly avoid Chick-Fil-A because of their Christian glurge and anti-LGBT stance, than I do anyone who thinks that’s a feature, not a bug.
And that’s totally dependent on which Whataburger you go to… most aren’t that bad.
I have no idea of the ideological leanings of the owners of most businesses that I patronize. If a business owner wants to make their views public, they have to accept the reaction. Some businesses I avoid for that reason, and others I support. It isn’t a mandatory thing that these views are made public by the businesses, that’s a choice they willingly make.
^This.^ As a libertarian, I think the owner of a business has every right to state views outside the mission of the business itself – or not. If they do lay their views out there, I am free to decide whether they align with my mindset or not. I had no trouble joining the Great CFA Boycott because I didn’t like their chicken sandwiches much anyway; my preferred boneless chicken is Popeye’s spicy chicken tenders. I did like their waffle fries, though. And the cow campaign.
If you look hard enough you will find Bible verses in unobtrusive places. I let them blow by me, as a I do a “have a blessed day” from a cashier when she’s handing me my change.
Another thing, as well; you know all those horror stories you hear about the what goes on back in the food prep areas of fast food restaurants? Completely not true for Chik fil A. I worked at one when I was in high school, and the kitchen was immaculate.
And the food is really good, IMO. Quality, too - I used to make the lemonade. Step 1: Cut a box of lemons into halves, then juice them in a mechanical juicer. No mixes, here. (The lemons were refrigerated, and that damned juice would find every hangnail and papercut on your hand…)
I avoid CFA over their corporate support for homophobic organizations, but I do give them credit for what they do: sell good food.
People inside political bubbles especially social media/internet ones tended to grossly overestimate how much average people care about various cause célèbre in those spheres. Even the audiences of political cable TV shows is a few million at most in a country of 300mil. Average people have heard of issues like changing the traditional definition of marriage, and a fair % might care to a significant degree, or did care back before it was a settled issue. But caring enough about what the founder of a particular business thought about an issue which is now basically settled (to the contrary of his opinion) to go there or not, that’s a small % of people I believe, either way.
It would be interesting though to test that hypothesis, survey the people in Chik Fil’A’s to find out how/if it factors in why they are there (‘I feel guilty but it’s so good’, ‘the boycott calls make me want to be here’, ‘I’ve never heard of the controversy’ [which is my guess for plurality answer], etc). And do it in a variety of areas to correct for the predominant local opinions. I strongly guess the big crowds in the CFA in the shopping area next to Teterboro Airport in NJ, the one we occasionally go to, are not mainly there to counter a boycott. They just like to eat there.
We like it when we go there. But it is still junk food and to me more ‘tastably’ high sodium than some other junk food. So it’s a few times a year.
Although I don’t like the concept of spreading politics into everything. I realize it’s not a constitutional issue, first amendment doesn’t deal with people not patronizing businesses because they don’t like the owner/founder’s politics which they have a right to do. I still think it goes against the general grain of a free society. Particularly given that the underlying ‘cause’ is defining the opinion virtually everybody had only maybe 20-30 yrs ago of what ‘marriage’ is as now morally beyond the pale. If you think the definition needed to be changed, fine. In fact it has been changed which should be doubly fine from that POV. Seeking to punish people who still don’t agree with you, again IMO that’s just not the way to a harmonious society which is itself important, and again especially if you’ve already gotten your way on the actual public policy. But does that make me want to raise my junk food quota to go to CFA all the time? not particularly.
(My bolding.)
I can’t speak for all of my fellow Atlantans, but none of the ones I know think of the World of Coke as anything but an overpriced advertisement-cum-tourist trap; the only slightly interesting section is the tasting room, where you can sample various Coke products sold around the world.
Ask most of us about downtown attractions, and we’ll point you to the aquarium, the Human Rights Museum, or maybe the College Football Hall of Fame. It’s always the out-of-towners who want to go to World of Coke.
I’d always heard that you have to call it Coca-Cola, or you may get something unexpected. (And a bit more expensive.) 
I believe CFA pays slightly higher than other fast food outfits, but as mentioned earlier there are a lot more employees at one time. So the local McD’s may have 5-6 people working the lunch rush, CFA has easily double that. It’s a lot easier to have a greater attitude when you aren’t overwhelmed with doing everything. At other fast food places, some of the employees have to be cashier and put your food together, whereas at CFA cashiers take orders and then you have other people putting the order together.
I VASTLY prefer Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich. C’est la vie. I used to not eat at CFA when corporate gave money to ex-gay organizations. They stopped doing that after the outcry. Now they give money to groups that don’t allow LGBTQ folks in leadership, but that’s not their primary focus (Christian Fellowship of Athletes, Salvation Army, etc). So I’ve decided to go back (it was the ex-gay donations I found to be too much over the line). It’s above average, but not wonderful, but their service is top notch. Thought the same about In and Out.
Not down here ;).