Chick-fil-A, One Year Later

Citizen Magazine ^ | June/July 2013 | Dan Gainor

[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:

[beaversmom]

Coming back from Moab after Thanksgiving, I went to the Grand Junction, CO one and sat in the drive thru line for several seconds before it dawned on me it was Sunday. So disappointed.

[beaversmom]

I was pleasantly surprised to find them open on Christmas Eve though...until 6 p.m.

[basil]

Actually, when you own a business, you get to chose what hours you are open.

I admire the fact that they close on Sundays as the family that owns these restaurants are Christians, and it is against their religion to work on Sundays.

[elcid1970]

My favorite Chick Fil-A is located next to the University of South Carolina main campus. When the faggies launched their protest last year, they bought billboard space nearby that harrumphed, “When You’re Eating Chick Fil-A, You’re Eating Anti-Gay!!”

CFA’s business only increased as patrons basically responded, “And your point is.....?” Interestingly, there were no direct action incidents, none. On the big protest day, Chick Fil-A was packed, without a demonstrator in sight.

[mc5cents]

I love Chik-fil-A but I hate their "closed Sundays" policy.

I love both. Sunday is the Lords day, not a business day.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

[bigdaddy45]

I’m sorry, but yours is a particularly ignorant comment. The owners of Chick-Fil-A believe Sunday is the Lord’s day, and are willing to forego the profits that could be made on Sunday by staying closed. Who are you to question it? Chick-Fil-A is a private business. I don’t care if they’re only open from 2-4am every other Tuesday. Their choice. And this choice has turned out to be immensely profitable. What business are you successfully running?

[Star Traveler]

That sounds like a company event - and I’m not part of the company.

[Jedidah]

Same for Hobby Lobby. I give both of them my business because they stand on principle.

[SamAdams76]

Great story about how easy it is for us to marginalize these fringe pressure groups. I can still remember when the homosexuals decided to stage a "kiss-in" at the restaurants and it was a major bust. At one restaurant, you had two boys kissing each other and people were just walking around them like they didn't exist to go get their chicken sandwiches. A few minutes of that and they just slunk away to whatever rock they slithered out from under.

It's time to stop letting the tail wag the dog!

[Liz]

No less a sophisticate than Esquire Mag named Chick-fil-a one of the nation's best sandwiches.

ESQUIRE REVIEW You can get a chicken sandwich anywhere, which may explain your low expectations. Boneless breast. Bun. Blah. But down south, there lives an eye-opener.

A come-to-Jesus sandwich. The Chick-fil-A. Seasoned, breaded breast served on a toasted buttered bun with dill-pickle slices. No mayo. No sauce at all. Deceptively simple, yet transcendent. The hook is the breading: spicy, with an intoxicating crunch.

The meat is always juicy, never chewy. The bun is like lingerie -- there, but not, providing delicious support without obscuring the main flavor. The first bite changes everything you think you know about chicken. And about the need for condiments. --Allison Glock

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/food-drink/sandwiches#ixzz211NacUiU

Here's your deluxe Chick-Filet-a sandwich:
w/ frilly lettuce leaf, vine-ripened tomato slices
cheese slice; side of hot, crisp waffle fries and large
iced lemonade. Couple containers of CFA's luscious
"special sauce" and you got lunch.

[Jedidah]

I agree with you in respecting those businesses that close on Sundays to give their employees time to worship and spend quiet days with their families.

And the Lord’s example of working hard six days and resting on the seventh is as relevant today as it was at Creation.

That said, Sunday isn’t THE Sabbath, as Saturday was back in OT times under the Law of Moses, when it was forbidden to do work. We’re, thankfully, no longer under those restrictions — although the principles are still worth following. If we truly still kept the Sabbath, we’d cease all work at sundown Friday until sundown Saturday, then go about our regular business on Sunday. But most of us are no longer Jews, and none of us still live under the Law of Moses.

In fact, the earliest Christians (because they were Jewish) observed the Saturday Sabbath, then got up to go to work on Sunday, the first day of their workweek. Because Jesus rose on Sunday, they met to worship very early in the morning, then went about their normal workday, then came together again that evening for a communal meal and to observe the Lord’s Supper.

I’m not making this up. The Romans, suspicious of the new movement who followed the crucified Jesus, spied on them. Those written reports tell the tale.

[immadashell]

Victory tastes like chicken and Duck!

The libs are crying "FOWL".

[Star Traveler]

The trouble with that is I don’t take off one day and week and quit eating ... :-) ...

SO ... what that means is that I simply eat somewhere else. And if Chick-fil-A is okay with that, I don’t care. There is absolutely no shortage of places to go to eat on Sunday, and I’ll just have to spend my money elsewhere - and do so by necessity.

Many times, on Sunday, I’ll be at Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa, where there is a Chick-fil-A on the food court. It does kinda look odd that all the other food places are lined up with customers, while Chick-fil-A is dark and empty.

SO ... how this actually turns out with me, is that while I do spend my money there - I actually spend a whole lot less there, than I would otherwise.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

I don’t eat at Chik-fil-a for its values. I eat at Chik-fil-a because their employees don’t look like they are going to rob me or rape my children in the bathroom.

[narses]

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[gitmo]

They’re open to other companies and to the public. They do quarterly simulcasts so groups around the company can participate.

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

I recall some “Business Chair” at a University (educated above his intellect) claiming that this would “hurt their brand.”

Chik-fil-A didn’t fall for it because they’re smarter than the Republican party so they don’t take advice from their political enemies.

[Star Traveler]

Oh ... okay ... I’ll look at it, then.

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

If you’re open for business, you need to be open for business.

---

Start your own business and run it as you wish.

[SeminoleCounty]

GayKK Fail...

Good news...Congrats Chick Fil A and customers