Posted on 12/28/2013 12:09:31 PM PST by rhema
Last summer, gay activists tried to destroy the national chicken chain. They wound up helping instead.
Victory tastes like chicken. Despite a year filled with protests and a smorgasbord of media scrutiny, recent evidence shows Chick-fil-A didn’t just survive becoming the target of a boycott led by gay activists last summer. It’s flourishing.
The popular fast-food chicken restaurant found itself in the crosshairs of media attention and activist protests after CEO Dan Cathy said in interviews with Christian media that he supports “the biblical definition of the family unit.”
Liberal groups had protested Chick-fil-A’s charitable contributions before, especially unhappy that the firm’s WinShape Foundation had donated money to groups like the Marriage & Family Foundation and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. After Cathy’s comments ricocheted around the Internet, pro-gay organizations targeted the company. That, in turn, spurred hundreds of thousands to support a “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” led by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Aug. 1.
The results speak for themselves: The restaurant chain grew both in profits and locations last year. While the 500 largest U.S. restaurant chains showed sales growth of 4.9 percent, Chick-fil- A nearly tripled that result with 14.1 percent, according to Tech- nomic Inc., a Chicago-based consulting and research firm serving the food industry.
“The fast food giant, the nation’s second-largest chicken chain, ended 2012 with $4.6 billion in sales,” reported the Atlanta Journal- Constitution. “The company also opened 96 new stores, four more than the year before.”
And its reputation actually improved—a lot. It made the annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotation for the first time in February, landing at 33 on the list of the top 60 “Most Visible Companies,” just three slots behind ever-popular Mc- Donald’s and two ahead of Burger King. The numbers caught the media off guard. USA Today headlined one piece:
(Excerpt) Read more at media.focusonthefamily.com ...
Good for them.
I posted when this happened I hoped the employees had a nice profit sharing program.
Before I make a trip to Missouri, I have to find the Chicken restaurants on my route.
Marriage & Family Foundation and Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Sounds like some commie groups, no wonder the liberals were upset......
This news will cause a lot of hissy fits in Queersville.
Chick-Fil-A opened a restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas. They brought free chicken sandwiches to businesses to promote themselves. Another time I went into their restaurant and received a free customer appreciation sandwich. Not hard to see why they are successful.
I rarely eat fast food, but when I do Chik-fil-A is at the top of my list. I’ve always liked their “Closed Sundays” policy, and offending the perpetually offended gay thugs is an added bonus.
Great article. Thanks for posting.
When they explain it away - as in, “Even bad publicity is really good for business” - I wonder how many readers actually buy the lie.
I had not eaten at Chick-fil-A before that - basically because I had never heard of it before ... LOL ... When I was in Portland, Oregon - the closest one was 340 miles away.
And when I got to Tulsa, I never paid attention to them, as a result of my prior experience.
BUT ... last year put them on the map for me and I’ve gone there a number of times now!
Victory tastes like chicken and Duck!
“Before I make a trip to Missouri, I have to find the Chicken restaurants on my route.”
While this was going on, I stopped every night and got their salad. What a nice place. Great employees. Joy to the world...
I rather like that.
The Spicy Chicken Deluxe did it for me.
I love Chik-fil-A but I hate their "closed Sundays" policy.
If you're open for business, you need to be open for business.
We have one of their restaurants only a few blocks from us. We had gone there once or twice prior to the boycott. Now we go about once a month.
If you ever get the chance to attend a Chic Fil-A Leadership Conference, do so. You will find it very inspiring and uplifting.
I’d never visited until this protest and found I loved the spicy chicken. I’ve visited dozens of times since and that never would have happened had the gay mafia not stepped over the line.
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