The Wake

Stomach growling? Yearning to fill that empty space inside? If faith-based-fast-food is what you’re craving look no further than Coffman Union’s resident Chick-fil-A!

Chick-fil-A has served up chicken sandwiches in the name of the Lord for over 60 years – in some respects. The Atlanta-based chain – pronounced “Chick-fil-lay,” doesn’t dish up religion to its customers, but was founded on Christian biblical principles.

In Minnesota, home to only two of Chick-fil-A’s 1,250 restaurants (Minnesota State University, Mankato houses the other), we hear little about the faithful Southern roots of the company credited with inventing the quick-service industry’s first boneless chicken sandwich and spawning the whole nugget idea.

S. Truett Cathy, Southern Baptist founder and chairperson of Chick-fil-A, has used biblical tenets as a guide to steer his restaurants since opening his first, The Dwarf Grill, in 1946. The grill gave way to Chick-fil-A and today, the private company, who reported systemwide sales of almost $2 billion in 2005, stands by its unusual corporate mission, “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A,” as stated on their website.

For instance, Chick-fil-A supports strong families, says Chick-fil-A training manager Ty Yokum.

Several policies are in place to “treat us [Chick-fil-A employees] with dignity, honor and respect,” as Yokum puts it. The company offers marriage counseling to all employees, scholarship opportunities, pays free full benefits to all full-time employees and their families, and closes every restaurant on Sundays (typically a fruitful day for fast food joints) – and boasts about a 97 percent retention rate of its employees.

Cathy gives employees Sundays off to recover from the workweek, spend time with their families and participate in fellowship or worship if they choose, explains Chick-fil-A spokesperson Brenda Green. The policy is still questioned by some business-savvy folks wondering why Chick-fil-A forgoes the day’s sales – and probably also by customers who just wonder why they can’t get their chicken fix on Sundays. Cathy maintains, “I feel it’s the best business decision I’ve ever made.” Cathy’s son Dan, the company’s president and chief operating officer, has promised to keep the closed-on-Sunday policy.

Yokum participated in Chick-fil-A’s employee marriage retreats twice, he says. Though retreats are not free, they are a “great value,” Yokum says. “It was a life-changing experience,” he says. Retreats are sponsored by Cathy’s WinShape Centre Foundation, which also has a four-year joint scholarship program with Berry College in Georgia, leadership camps for boys and girls and a foster home program with nine homes throughout the south and Brazil. Cathy and Chick-fil-A also support various religious groups and other projects through philanthropy.

Chick-fil-A caters to the customer’s family values too, via kid’s meals, says Rich Moorhouse, vice president of Minnesota manufacturing and marketing company Mello Smello, LLC, vending company for Chick-fil-A’s packaging and kid’s meals. Chick-fil-A chooses not to target children with cheap, flashy toys like other fast food chains, Moorhouse says. Instead, a book, tape or CD is included with the meals “specifically to promote parent and child interaction or education,” he explains.

“Chick-fil-A is like no other corporation we work with,” Moorhouse says. “I was shocked,” he explains, at a Chick-fil-A vendor conference last year when Dan Cathy “got down on his hands and knees and shined my shoes.” Dan personally shined the shoes of each vendor representative (about 40) on their way out of the conference before hugging them and thanking them individually for their support, Moorhouse explains. “I’ve met with many different CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, and this is just something you’d never find … not in the corporate world,” Moorhouse says.

“Basically, people are treated like people,” Yokum says of Chick-fil-A’s practices, “and that’s a huge benefit in itself.”

Chick-fil-A seems to balance its business and morals agreeably. Opting to close down registers 15 percent of the week, the company continues to grow faster than fast food giants such as McDonald’s and Burger King, Frederick Reichheld explains in his book, Loyalty Rules!. Chick-fil-A beats the two in both freestanding restaurant (i.e. not in malls) sales and total percentage of growth, according to Reichheld. Since Chick-fil-A first opened in 1967, it has earned 38 consecutive annual sales increases, including double digit jumps the last 12 years, according to their website.

The success could have something to do with Chick-fil-A’s loyal customer base. When was the last time you grabbed a sleeping bag and your best thermos, and pitched a tent at the door of a new McDonald’s? When a new Chick-fil-A pops up, so do hundreds of customers, who set up camp the night before. Chick-fil-A “entertains these raving fans” too, she explains, with a DJ, karaoke, raffles and other festivities to keep energy going. The first 100 customers in the restaurant opening day get coupons for one free combo meal a week for the year – and the offer attracts a loyal following of college students, Green says.

One die-hard fan base from University of Texas, Austin even set up a website, chickenpack.com, as a forum to connect with other Chick-fil-A opening junkies. “We’ve endured hours of hundred degree heat, rain, sleet and freezing cold temperatures with a smile and a dance,” in the quest for a year’s worth of free Chick-fil-A, the site says. The site also has a tribute to Dan Cathy, who camps out with the customers at most openings – he makes it to about 50 a year, Green says.

Though Chick-fil-A currently keeps most of its unconventional do-good business ethics and gives away most of its free grub in the Southern states, Brenda Green says the company plans to spread north and into the Midwest, “slowly migrating up the West Coast.” Amen to that.

Coffman Union’s Chick-fil-A is a brand licensure with University Dining Services, which serves a smaller menu and may or may not operate with the same business principles.