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What Is Chick-Fil-A’s Core Competence?
That would be chicken, yes? Finally, a couple of years ago, we got our first Chick-Fil-A here in the Pacific Northwest, and it has met all our expectations. Most stores are busy all day long, with lines at the drive-through and tables filled inside. The employees are as nice and courteous as can be, reflecting the values of the chain’s owners. New stores generate lots of excitement and long lines as soon as they open. And the food is wonderful.
But a story I read today on Fox News indicates that they may be contemplating what I consider a very bad move. They are considering adding “fake chicken” to their menu. Why, pray tell, would a restaurant chain that makes the best chicken sandwiches around consider adding “vegan” options? What would a vegan want at a store that specializes in chicken?
Personally, I don’t think the owners of Chick-Fil-A should potentially damage their brand by trying to appeal to people who don’t want their product in the first place. Besides, what percentage of vegans are the worst kind of progressive, the ones who try to ban Chick-Fil-A from college campuses? And the ones who disparage the owners for their Christian beliefs? If I were the Cathy family, I would drop this bad idea. Am I totally wrong on this?
Published in Culture
Interesting point. Kind’a the opposite of virtue signaling.
Long ago I dated a woman who claimed to be a semi-vegetarian, and she wouldn’t eat food that “looked like meat”. So burgers and hot dogs were fine.
Totally agree. And I don’t care for the kale salad, the other non-high-carb option.
The cows have been winning the argument (‘Eat mor chikn’) for too long, Chick-fil-A is finally listening to be more tolerant of real chickens’ concerns. But the chickens should really try lobbying McD’s or BK to put up some billboards (‘Eat mor cow’).
As some have indicated above, I think the restaurant’s core competency is actually service. Imagine that.
Well, I don’t have to imagine. I’ve driven to Chick-fil-A many a time, not because I wanted a chicken sandwich, but because I knew I had to get through a drive-through in a resonable amount of time. CFA is so quick that I get the same heebie-jeebies trying to hand them my card and get my straw in my drink fast enough as I get going through TSA at the airport.
Like non-alcoholic BEER. It’s just wrong on so many levels.
The lead post might not make sense to people not from the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Seattle metro area. On the day the first Chick-fil-A opened in this state the food section of the Seattle Times led with: “4 great Seattle chicken sandwiches that aren’t Chick-fil-A” written by the food editor herself, who weeks later admitted to never having been in one of their stores, nor did she know that all new Chick-fil-A stores are company owned and have been for many years.
I had never been in a Chick-fil-A either, prior to Dan Cathy taking a stand on marriage and donating to pro-marriage organizations. I did some searching and found that the closest one to Seattle was in Sacramento, CA., too far to go for a sandwich, even if I did like what he was doing. In a short period, six months or so, after the failed boycott of Chick-fil-A they opened a location in San Jose, a place I often visited on business and to see family in the area. Walked into that San Jose store to buy a chicken sandwich and was amazed at the cleanliness, smiling employees and to see it as busy as In and Out burgers in the area.
I was intrigued by Dan Cathy, and the company, from the beginning of the press about them and the ensuring boycott. An article in Huffpost, written by the national leader of the LGBT group that started boycott, went a long way in providing an understanding of the kind of people the Cathys are, and the kind of company they own: Dan and Me: My Coming Out as a Friend of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A
I hope they do. You have to remember: it’s not just the revenues from non-meat eaters; it’s also the revenues from chicken eaters who go somewhere else because their veg. friends and family members can’t eat there.
Or maybe this is just a divide and conquer tactic:pull away the vegetarians from the lunatic anti-Chick F A people
I would say the problem with fake chicken is that it proves what a cop out Veganism is. I get the idea not to eat meat (vegetables are really tasty too), but why then seek to imitate meat? That is nonsense. You should be happy with salad, which is a perfectly fine food or have a grilled vegetable sandwich. But why create some soy paste concoction that you bread and fry and pretend is something that it is not. I get it the restaurant want to make money and offer people something to buy, but chicken soy substitute sandwiches are a lie. And to make them is a form of culinary dishonesty, which a portabella burger isn’t.
Decaf coffee is just as much a lie, but people ask for it every day.
I’m a vegan and a raging conservative. I love Chick-Fil-A, they’ll typically make you whatever you ask for, without chicken, or without cheese, etc. I have other raging conservative friends who now vegans after their bypass surgeries. I think Chick-Fil-A is simply trying to offer some options for a wide audience. It’s nice to have options and not be required to go into a hippie vegan sandwich shop (which smells like incense) just to get a lunch without meat. I doubt Chick-Fil-A is trying to convert liberals, they simply make sandwiches for a mass audience.
Interesting coincidence. I recently played a round of golf with 3 of their store managers. This is essentially what they said. Their business is serving customers.
If I recall correctly from my mammalogy class, decades ago, the animal with an alimentary system most like humans is… ready for this? The bear.
I love Chick – fil – A. I eat at one any chance I get – at meal time, anyway. You’ll never find more friendly, helpful service anywhere. A good friend has been working for them, and working his way up, for nearly 10 years, and he was just given a store.
My father-in-law used say of decaf, “Don’t give me any of that communist junk.”
With the exception of a couple of scavengers, hyenas for one, no carnivore eats the meat of a carnivore. I’ve eaten both Black bear, an omnivore, and Brown bear (grizzly), a strict carnivore, and I have no intention of eating either one again, but the Black would certainly be my preference.
Also some families have members who suffer with hemachromatosis, an inherited condition that puts serious limits on the amount of iron that they should eat. I really was happy when Carl’s added a meat free sandwich, as both of us could then eat there. Also, unlike many a much pricier restaurant’s meat free burger, M thought it tasted great!
I applaud those places that are doing this. And I imagine it helps out parents who now have a “woke” teenager in their midst, so they can do a family night out with a lot fewer complaints.
It would be ok as long as it has Cheese on it.
I’m a vegetarian, I don’t eat meat.
Don’t worry. We’re having lamb.
To paraphrase the great Ron Swanson: “Decaf coffee is water pretending to be coffee. Avoid it.”
What if your doctor has told you not to drink or partake of caffeine any more?
Get a second opinion. Immediately.
I cheat, and in the mornings fill a cup with milk, pop in micro-wave to heat, then drop a teaspoon of instant coffee in it. Gives me the illusion of having my morning coffee.