For those of you not blessed to live in an area that has access to the deliciousness that is Chick-fil-A, it is a restaurant. The food is quick, not fast, cost efficient, not cheap. They serve chicken almost exclusively and are slowly but surely giving fast food restaurants the elbow of death. The reason Christians love them is that the company is run with Christian values. By that I don't mean they have a Jesus fish on their business card. They are closed on Sundays. This is perhaps the biggest statement that a company that stands to make tens of millions of dollars on the weekends can make about what the Sabbath means to them.There are no Bible verses inside the restaurant. The fries are called "waffle fries" not "Paul potatoes" or "trinity taters." They aren't overt in their faith but they weave it into everything they do and everything they do is great.
Add all that up and Christians can't wait to throw money at Chick-fil-A. My wife and two kids have eaten hundreds of meals there in the last few years and when I recently did a freelance writing project for them I would have hugged the president except it was a conference call and I had signed paperwork that I would not hug any executives.
Perhaps a friend's mom best captured the Christian love for Chick-fil-A when she said, "I like going to Chick-fil-A, it feels like tithing."
51 comments:
I hate it when businesses advertise their Christianity. It usually means they're planning to charge too much for too little.
One time a dentist advertising himself as a Christian told my brother he needed a cavity filled. Later (after paying an arm and a leg for the procedure), it was discovered he didn't ever have a cavity.
My rule of thumb: if someone who is not a church mentions Jesus in his ad, stay far away.
this is so true. and now there actually i heart chic-fil-a bumperstickers! i am in seminary and i swear when i pull up to school, half the lot has them on their cars.
that's a good bit...
how could you leave out In and Out?
I mean, I love chick, but seriously, raise your hand if you always crave chick-fil-a on Sunday. Seriously.
I have worked at Chick-fil-A (twice, once in high school, once in college) and it is an AMAZING company to work for! To be even more impressed with the company, read Truitt Cathy's autobiography "Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People". For example, Chick-fil-A has the resources to open several hundred stores a year. Instead, they choose to go slow, training operators and employees throughly, and open around 50 stores a year.
In the age of evil corporate entities like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and the government, having a truly Christian company like Chick-fil-A is inspiring, to say the least.
Matthew
Anon - This is my second attempt at a response, let's see if I can get this right. I actually didn't know that about in and out until this afternoon and had already written the chick-fil-a piece in my head. If you've got some ideas about in and out, let me know. I'll either add them to this one or give them their own entry at some point
thanks for the reminder
Jon
Oh that's PERFECT!
I have been a Christian for 30 years now, but my first visit to a Chick-fil-A was six weeks ago.
I can't believe I've missed out on this crucial bit of Christiandom. And I'm a PK too. You'd think I'd know better.
Jon--
I'm with "anonymous", being West Coast born and raised: In-N-Out is amazing! Not only are their burgers of high quality, but they, like Chik-fil-A, have a very slow expansion process, even though opening a new store is a veritable news event. (The one that opened in Scottsdale had news helicopters, according to Wikipedia.) Instead of splurging on expansion and advertising, they pay above and beyond minimum wage to their employees. The small Bible citations (book, chapter and verse; never any text) are discreet and I actually didn't even notice them until I was 16. Great company.
I love love Chick-fil-A...too bad it's an hour away...sigh...
My husband's grandfather was Truett Cathy's (founder of Chick-Fil-A) Sunday School teacher.
On an unrelated note, my husband's great aunt was Ruth Graham's secretary.
Chik-Fil-A has excellant food, and good business practices. They aren't hypocrites.
Yes, we love our "Christian Chicken".
I do not want to think about how much money I've spent at CFA. But it does help knowing their business style is one I am happy to support.
Only a couple of years until my oldest can apply for a job there!
Yeah for Veggie Tales & Adventures in Odyssey in the kids' meals!
it is amazing.b
mmm chick-fil-a
give it up for christian fast food!!
it doesn't even matter that they're closed on sunday.. their chicken is so dang'd tasty it must be a sin.
*groan*
ok.
sorry.. i'll leave the witty writing to you.
But seriously.. I've been loving the Chick-fil-A since before I could walk, I think (25+ years for sure) and only since the mid 90's did I ever even realize they were a Christian company.
Now, sometimes, it's ridiculous.. CCM music blaring over the loudspeakers, but yeah. (And it's worse, here, in Franklin, TN, where I live.. Autographed pics of every CCM artist known to mankind, not b/c they did a concert, just cause they eat there!)
If only I weren't allergic to poultry (including Chicken).
Given the desire for chic-fil-a on Sunday, perhaps it is like manna--On Sat we can buy extra and perhaps God will have it to keep until Sunday after church!
I;ve been told time and time again that Chik-Fil-A is a Mormon company..
2nd the in-n-out prop. the slow expansion is due to that every franchise is family owned. but a generation is soon to be passing, and the young kids of that family is supposedly ready to get rich and start franchising to anyone.
we'll see if they keep their values... (worried). they pay their workers 9.50+ an hr. no fast food restaurant does that....hope they don't stop doing that.
the ad agency I work for handles the Chick-fil-a work and it's amazing to hear our president talk about their values as a company. They just do it all right. Instead of forsaking whatever to get more $$$ as a company they almost forsake $$$ to do the right thing (quality of food, best employees, Sundays off, etc etc) and end up with the $$$ anyway.
I heard something crazy like the average Chick-fil-a does almost 3x the amount of business per month that an average McD's does, simply because Chick-fil-a doesn't discount, they just do it all well and people don't mind paying a little more for it.
I love CFA! The thing about eating there feeling like tithing is roll-on-the-floor funny. (Ooh! There's another post you can do: tithing! Giving our 10% sure makes us feel holier than everyone else, even though the percentage hasn't applied for a millennium or two.)
Anyway, I'm raising my hand with the person who said they always crave CFA on Sundays. Yep!
we used to live by a Chick-Fil-A, then we moved away. Sigh. There's one here now but it's like 45 minutes away . . .
so i went to cfa the other day and forgot my wallet but did not realize it until i was in the drive thru line. i apologized profusely and said i would just pull through. they said not to worry about it and to order what i wanted and come back the next day to pay for it. crazy.
Mormon company = no.
Truett - Sunday school teacher at Jonesboro First Baptist Church for over 30 years.
Not only do they have great chicken, but check out their WinShape Foundation. They are a for real company with real morals and values. Their corporate purpose is to "glorify God in all they encounter". Hello!! We are houseparents with their foundation, and they pour a lot of their profits into WinShape Foundation. It is true people, there are real christian companies that want to make a different for ALL of the right reasons.
DUDE! The Sabbath is the SEVENTH day of the week (Genesis 2:3). That would be Saturday. Always has been, always will be. You can go to church on Sunday, but it will not be the SABBATH.
Nothing against Chick-fil-A, but their being closed on Sundays is meaningless to me.
We had some delicious chicken for dinner last night.
I think the point of their being closed on Sunday is to give their employees a day of rest and a time to be involved in corporate worship if they so choose.
I can't remember where I heard it first...but around here we call it Chick-fil-awesome...corny i know, but my kids love it.
Hmm...I love Chick-Fil-A, and regularly drive the 30 miles it takes to get to the nearest one here in Massachusetts. Awesome chicken sandwiches and waffle fries.
I'm all for family-friendly business of any stripe, but is going there really "tithing"? Is any of my money going to end up funding free Bible programs or something like that?
There might not be bible verses on the walls, but one of the stand alone restaurants in Gulfport, MS has a bible in the bathroom, next to a mission statement and, oddly, the hand lotion and tissues. I used to have a great picture on my phone but I lost it. Next time I'm there (i'm out there for work, occasionally), I'll have to get a good one and email it to you.
Oh yeah, we love Chic fil A around here, too! Yummm
Hey I love Chick Fil A!!! When I was 30 I wound up working at one, and that is where God gave me the idea for a book that is coming out next week... Microbursts!
Check it out, at http://www.beyondmicrobursts.blogspot.com
Keep up the good work!!
Eat more Chicken
I have to agree that there is a bitter irony to the fact that I looove Chick-fil-A but always seem to crave it most right after church on SUNDAY! It's the devil's way of taunting us and trying to tempt us into speaking unkindly about the company. That's my take on it anyhow. :)
I like Chick-fil-a because it is clean and, one can assume, sanitary. The employees seem happy to be there. You get in and out in a hurry. What's not to like about all that?!
RE: day of the Sabbath
It is true that the 7th day of the week (Saturday) is THE weekly Sabbath, but Christendom has celebrated the Lord's day on Sunday for nearly two millennia for several reasons, not the least of which is to separate from the Jewish tradition of Sabbath (which starts at sundown Friday night).
It might not be the official Sabbath, but because our cultural worship day has become Sunday, Chick-Fil-A's recognition of their employees' desire to be with families on the day of worship should be commended.
Well now I'm sad I can't enjoy all this christian chicken goodness. I've never heard of them. But I do have In N Out...the best burgers in the world, and do I know bugers!
I've never eaten there but I like them!
We live approximately 30 seconds from a Chick-Fil-A - that is awesome.
That, and I kid you not, the people that work there are the kindest, friendliest people in customer service. As a stay at home mom with two small children, I take every chance I get to have some adult interaction. Most of the time it's through customer service and that's why Chick-Fil-A gets all my fast food money. They rock! Plus, it's kind of cool to go in there on a random morning and find several groups of people sitting around having a Bible study. It makes me appreciate how "un-persecuted" we as Christians are in this country - one of my pet peeves Christians complain about - how persecuted we are for our faith here. Puh-Leez.
PURE AWESOMENESS. i would love to throw my money at chic-fil-a (ahem, i mean tithe in the love offering) but alas, LA is chic-fil-a-less. i don't get it. chic-fil-a, PLEASE fight your way into LA county. we are a desert without an oasis, and i am a southern girl turned californian without her beloved sweet tea. tear.
seriously, i can't say enough how much I love chick-fil-a. It was my first job and my little brother's first job and I am happy to say he is now an operator of a Chick-Fil-A. Is he cool or what? The first logo my son "read" as a toddler, was Chick-Fil-A and each of my kids has a page in their scrabook dedicated to their first CFA meal. Am I a nut or what??
I feel odd reading these comments, and seeing im about the only one that has worked at CFA and come out after over 3 years with a sour taste of Christianity and Capitalism mixed together.
I really question their treatment of employees. As I think back, I tend to wonder if it wasn't my boss who was/is really disillusioned. A mixture of propaganda, "God's will", greed and superficial treatment of customers that somehow gets eaten up bite by bite by an eager public audience, really sets off the alarms for me.
I'm not trying to destroy the reputation, just be cautious when you contribute to something that is "christian" and makes a profit off of such a demographic.
Hello?! You forgot to explain the best part of Chick-fil-A for your non-Southern readers! The cow signs! You simply must add some cow details here!
I don't eat at Chick-fil-A, but I heart them because of their cow signs and throw money at children selling their cow-themed fundraising calendars and then give them to frenz and fam. I mean, I can be exhausted and depressed driving home late at night from work, but driving past the electric shifting-sign on that building in Midtown off the southbound Connector makes me feel happy. I consider that real Christian of Chick-fil-A.
However, while I would normally agree that Bible verses on fast-food dinnerware is bad form, SoCal's IN-N-OUT Burger is an exception. Their burgers make you so happy that you're just fine with seeing Jeremiah 29:11-13 on the bottom of your paper cup.
"I love Chic-Fil-A..." I sing this to the tune of I Love Rock and Roll often. Still working on more words to the same tune though.
I also fondly remember In N Out when I was out in LA... for a band trip.
In N Out = delicious cow
Chic-Fil-A = delicious chicken
You didn't even side-hug Mr. Cathy, Jon?
Is it necessary to pray before eating a Chick-fil-A meal, or is the food there intrinsically blessed?
Sigh. The nearest Chick-Fil-A is in Northern California, a mere seven hours away.
When I travel out of state, I actually find out where the restaurants are so I can get my chicken fix.
flippin' delicious!!!
I didn't take the time to read every single comment, so forgive me if someone already said this...
I was under the impression that the reason behind Chick-fil-a being closed on Sundays wasn't a God-centered one. I thought that it was a decision the owners wife made so they could have family time.
Hmm.
In case this post didn't do it for you, check out Tim Hawkin's unbelievably hysterical tribute to the best chicken sandwich ever to be endorsed by cows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsJHqstPuNo
(Apologies in advance if someone else has already posted this - I did a quick check and didn't see it so I thought I'd share.)
I like Chick-fil-a as well. The ones in our area are a little overt in that they play the contempory 'Christian' music in their stores.
But, the one down the street from us has some of the nicest staff that you could ask from a fast food establishment.
I want to open a business and call it a christian business just to get all you dumb fucks to buy whatever random shit i'm trying to sell
Late to the game here -- I'm in L.A. so no Chick-fil-a... We do have In 'n' Out, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned their secret menu. My son is crazy about animal style fries.
Also in L.A. (only a few outlets) is California Chicken Cafe, which is also Christian-owned and closed on Sundays so their employees can go to church. Wonderful food, and they've set all their prices to come out even at a quarter with tax, so you never have to dig for pennies/nickels/dimes... Look for them if you're in L.A. (they're in Westwood, Santa Monica, Encino, Melrose... I think a few more places as well...)
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