Chick-fil-A (Wellington)
***** Chick-fil-A, 10300 West Forest Hill Boulevard, Wellington, Florida 33414, (561) 333-4242.
To make this one “easy” I copied the following from national fast-food chicken chain Chick-Fil-A’s website—www.chik-fil-a.com:
“It all started in 1946, when Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill, in Hapeville, Georgia. Credited with inventing Chick-fil-A’s boneless breast of chicken sandwich, Mr. Cathy founded Chick-fil-A, Inc. in the early 1960s and pioneered the establishment of restaurants in shopping malls with the opening of the first Chick-fil-A Restaurant at a mall in suburban Atlanta in 1967. Since then, Chick-fil-A has steadily grown to become the second largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,615 locations in 39 states and Washington, D.C. In 2011, annual sales were over $4.1 billion. Chick-fil-A is still privately held and family owned.”
*****
I’m gonna assume that everyone here is familar with Chick-fil-A…for our purposes, according to the Company’s website it currently has 155 locations in Florida…these “joints’ are all over the place with free-standing units as well as mall food court locations.
For those of you who don’t “know” about Chick-fil-A…the primary item sold is a lightly breaded/pressured cooked chicken breast…this item comes on a bun, in a salad, in a wrap or in nugget form–Chick-fil-A also has a chargrilled chicken and chicken salad…the joint does waffle fries and a handful of desserts. To liven up the discussion, we could “talk” about the religious/moral reasons why Chick-fil-A’s locations are closed on Sunday, but we won’t. We could also talk about its franchising business, which is just a “glorified” extremely well paying job for its franchisees, but we won’t. We could also talk about the Company’s long running “battle” with America’s gay-community over what the definition of “marriage” is, but we won’t. For those of you who like to “dig deeper”—do some online searching—the Chick-fil-A “story” is a real interesting read…Anyway, no matter how you slice it, Chick-fil-A is an amazing business success story…just imagine what its “numbers” would be if those 1,615 locations were open on Sunday!
This past Saturday afternoon, Jeff Eats found himself sitting in the food-court at The Mall At Wellington Green in Wellington—waiting patiently for 1-hour as Mrs. Jeff Eats shopped for God Only Knows For What! To be perfectly honest with you, Saturday isn’t usually a “mall-day” for Jeff Eats…Sunday, maybe—but Saturday is a rarity. I’ll betcha you a nickel, that most of you guys right about now “see” where I’m going with this tale…Anyway, low and behold right in front of me is this Chick-fil-A outlet pumping out a ton of stuff—and believe it or not, Jeff Eats in all his years has never-ever “had” anything from Chick-fil-A. So, I ordered the breaded chicken breast which came on a toasted buttered bun with pickle chips, a chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread, waffle fries. Let me make this real simple, the food was absolutely dynamite. Absolutely one of the best “fried” chicken items I’ve ever eaten—same for the chicken salad—the fries which were lightly salted were also delicious.
Let me wrap Chick-fil-A up this way…
Prior to eating this joint’s food, I really didn’t “appreciate”- why it had so many outlets, legendary loyal customers and the ability to be “closed” on Sunday. I do now…this is one Hell (oops!) of a fast-food chain.
Jeff: Just pulled this article up from the Associated Press.
I like Chick’s food. I don’t like or agree with its religious stands.
Just wanted to compliment Jeff Eats’ style. Very few food reviews actually have the reader thinking about other things than just the food.
ATLANTA (AP) – Gay rights advocates were surprised Thursday that the president of fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has taken a public position against same-sex marriage.
Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy said this week that his privately owned company is “guilty as charged” in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family unit.
Chick-fil-A released its own statement, saying it has a history of applying biblically-based principles to its business, such as keeping its stores closed on Sundays.
STORY: Ed Helms boycotting Chick-fil-A over anti-gay marriage
“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender,” according to the statement.
“Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena,” it said.
The Atlanta-based chain opened its first location in a Georgia mall in 1967 and has grown to more than 1,615 restaurants in 39 states and Washington, D.C., with annual sales over $4.1 billion, according to its website.
“We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that,” Cathy told the Baptist Press, the news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign that works for same-sex-marriage, said Thursday that Chick-fil-A “has finally come clean” after cloaking its positions for years.
“While they may have been in neutral, kicking this fight into overdrive now allows fair-minded consumers to make up their own minds whether they want to support an openly discriminatory company,” Griffin said in a statement. “As the country moves toward inclusion, Chick-fil-A has staked out a decidedly stuck-in-the-past mentality.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Jeff,
I love the food at Chick fil A . No question about it Chik fil A is a very well run company. I can’t even imagine how much money it gives up by not being open on Sundays. You also point out its franchise system. I urge readers to look into how it works. It really isn’t a franchise. Basically Chik puts up all the money and you get a cut of sales. But you dont really own anything and build no equity. On the religious aspect, since its a private company it can think any way that it wants. but then again the public can think any way that it wants and buy from it or avoid it.
When i’m eating that great chicken bun sandwich I usually don’t think about the political and religious aspects of its business. All I think about is how great it tastes .
As usual a great writeup with a few twists and turns to get people thinking.
Thanks,
XCR
can’t beat that chicken sandwich.
the kids behind the counter are as clean cut and polite as can be.
maybe these guys got society figured out better than many of us.
Jeff,
I love that chicken sandwich.
I think that the Mayor of Boston has banned the chain from doing business in the city because of its anti-gay stand.
They really have a great fast food formula going.
Food is excellent.
Staff is excellent.
Prices are fair.
That’s why they have so many stores and still do great even though they close on Sundays.
Just read an article that Henson who created the Muppets and did kid’s toys for Chik said because of Chick’s anti gay positions it won’t do business with Chick’s any longer.
Personally, companies like Chik and In N Out should just keep quiet about social and political issues.
Jeff, just saw this on Yahoo News:
ATLANTA — All of a sudden, biting into a fried chicken sandwich has become a political statement.
Chick-fil-A, the fast-food chain known for putting faith ahead of profits by closing on Sundays, is standing firm in its opposition to gay marriage after touching off a furor earlier this month.
Gay rights groups have called for a boycott, the Jim Henson Co. pulled its Muppet toys from kids’ meals, and politicians in Boston and Chicago told the chain it is not welcome there.
Across the Bible Belt, where most of the 1,600 restaurants are situated, Christian conservatives have thrown their support behind the Atlanta-based company, promising to buy chicken sandwiches and waffle fries next week on “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.”
The latest skirmish in the nation’s culture wars began when Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press that the company was “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family.” In a later radio interview, he ratcheted up the rhetoric: “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, `We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'”
That fired up gay rights advocates, including a group that waged a campaign against the company in recent years by publicizing $3 million in contributions that the Cathy family foundation has made to conservative organizations such as the Family Research Council.
“This solidifies Chick-fil-A as being closely aligned with some of the most vicious anti-gay voices in the country,” said Carlos Maza of Equality Matters.
A Chicago alderman vowed to block a Chick-fil-A proposed in his district, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel supported him, saying, “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values.” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wrote in a letter to Cathy: “There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.”
In announcing it was pulling its toys, the Jim Henson company said it has “celebrated and embraced diversity for over 50 years.” It directed its revenue from the Chick-fil-A toys to GLAAD, a leading gay rights organization.
I think that eventually the gay-lesbian community and other civil rights organizations are going to call for a boycott of Chik that will totally cripple the chain.
If this was a public company this would be a disaster right now. But because its private the owner family can fight on.
Only time will tell but I’m betting a huge boycott is going to wreck this company.
By the way, I love its food.
JKN- Boycotts? Name me one company of recent decades that has gone out of business due to a boycott? There were large religious groups (Southern Baptists) a number of years ago Boycotting Disney-parks movies etc. How did that work out? Disney stock now at all time highs. Boycotts were for the 1970s. I go to Chik for the food. The employees are very good and more than a cut others by far. They have locations at Atlanta airport where you can grab a hot chicken sandwich between flights in the Delta terminals at a fair price. Fries always hot. I dont always go for the fried stuff though. It also should be known that the company has been a pretty religious organization from its start.
Yeah, but the mayors of Boston and Chicago wont let the chain open in their cities. This going to spread to many other cities and future growth will be shut off.
Just imagine boycotts and picket lines at every location.
Don’t underestimate how many people are going to avoid this chain.
It’s in it’s infancy.
Pretty soon pressure will be put on the chain’ssuppliers.
Going to be a debacle for the chain.
I got to hand it to you, talk about perfect timing. You mention Chik fil A and a few days later the company is all over the news. Only food blog I know that gets readers thinking about all kinds of things.
Absolutely amazing.
Jeff briefly mentions the gay bias issue and within a day or so it becomes a huge national news story.
I love the chicken.
I was thinking the same thing.
Just read that San Francisco’s mayor just banned Chick from opening stores in his city. He now joins Chicago and Boston. This is going to spread.
I also just read that Jeff Bezos of Amazon is giving millions to gay organizations to fight Chik and othe anti gay companies.
I see Chik in a whole lot of trouble. It’s got muscle for sure but this growing opposition wil eat and beat Chick live.
No crap Jeff, the kids that work at Chick they remind me of the people in that movie Truman. Too clean cut , polite, well spoken for me. Sort of like Robots.
Let’s be critical of the nice well mannered and well spoken kids that work at Chik; you would rather have some scum-bag gang bangers that give you attitude and spit in your food? Just brilliant reasoning; where did you get your rocket science degree??
Never been there.
After hearing about the owner’s anti-gay position I wouldnt even thing of going there.
Love that chicken on a bun.
Chick fil A has the best chicken sandwich anywhere and they shouldn’t be faulted for their belief’s.
I see that yesterday people from all over the country came out in support of Chick and the stores were jammed. The story was all over tv yesterday.
Jeff, what’s your position on this, if you dont mind my asking?
TPJ:
Just had a chance to read your comments.
Personally, I disagree with the politicians and others who want to “ban” Chick-fil-A from doing business in their states and cities.
I maybe wrong here, but I thought that the US Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion and speech.
The way I see it, the American public should decide for itself if it wants to do business with Chick-fil-A or not, not politicans.
Thanks for reading…
Jeff,
My exact thoughts.
Thanks,
TPJ
agree with you.
I agree.
Government just shut up.
Today is National Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, but judging from the nationwide social media reports last week, customers didn’t wait for the official day to start showing their support. The fast-food chicken restaurant has seen standing-room-only dining areas and clogged drive-through lines all week since the mayors of Boston and Chicago openly declared their desire to shut the company’s franchises down through discriminatory permitting practices.
Could care less about the company’s politics.
Good food.
Jeff, I agree with you. Freedom of speech is the important issue here. I am shocked that gays would oppose this concept.
Eat there don’t eat there, that’s your call to make. Govt got no business telling the owners what their religious or moral beliefs should be.
Ate at loc in boca town center. Chicken sandwich was a bit salty and ff were limp and undercooked. Not terrible but far from legendary great that others talk about.
who cares about their religious politics, not me.i love its food.
I love Chik’s food. Don’t care about the politics.
The chicken sandwich is great and I love their sauce.
Fresh cooked chicken sandwich.
Delicious.
sandwich is outrageously delicious.
Love the food.
Had the chicken salad in Boca Town Center location and it stunk.