I'm a big fan of Chick Fil A...

Sure, it's still fast food but I believe it's of a higher quality than its peers...
Plus, they actually hand bread the chicken breast in store before dipping it into that vat of frying peanut oil.... The food is just better overall than anything else one can get quickly

And, yes I respect the heck out of them.. they are willing to eschew opening of Sunday... for whatever reason it may be, they are giving up a signifiant amount of business by staying closed... and it does give their employees a guaranteed day off each week to spend how they wish... I'm not a fan of their conservative politics, but to be able to stick to their guns and pass up on $$$$ that's a big deal.... And really, who was shocked that the Cathy family is anti gay marriage??

They run a tight tight ship.. every store I've been to has been very clean... there is always a changing table in the bathroom (big deal now that I have kids) and everyone is very friendly... I'm always offered help to the table with my food when I have two kids hanging on me, and someone is always circulating offering refills... It's a great place for a family. Heck, one near my house even has a basket with diapers and wipes... Sure, when they say my pleasure to everything it's a little hokey but the service is always very good. And, just yesterday I saw a bus disgorge 53 people (the driver asked before coming in) and they handled everyone quickly and efficiently... I've seen many a restaurant choke under such numbers (I'm looking at you Mcdonald's on the way to the outer banks where I waited for 30 minutes for my food).....

In summary.. clean restaurants, reasonably good fast food and good service... great for families as well- always stop during road trips


FDW

While I personally am a fan of their food and the way they treat employees in comparison to other fast food places, despite my displeasure in some of management's social agenda, some locations do have employees that work on Sunday.

My cousin used to work as a supervisor during college for a franchisee with about five different locations, she'd float amongst locations. She used to routinely be called in to unload delivery trucks in the early morning Sun or late Sun at night for about six hour shift. The franchisee would always make sure they had a break to attend church service should they choose, but they would work on Sun. If he know someone was providing a ride for one of his employees to work on a Sunday, he would extend an offer for the car's occupants to come inside and eat something complimentary before returning home.

What so much hype about a Chick Fil-A Opening?
 

Several Chick Fil-A joints are opening in the Seattle area.

People are actually camping out in the parking lot. The local news leads off with this hype.

[redacted OMNI/PR characterization]

Is the food any good and worth sleeping in a tent for 24 hours in a parking lot?

The first number of customers at new store get coupons for free sandwiches for a year. (50/100/200 customers)

Got tons of CF around me so an opening wouldn't excite me, but if an In-N-Out were to have a grand opening in Northern VA then I'd definitely line up.

... and if they happened to offer free Double Doubles for a year ? heck yeah I'd camp out for that !!

Is any food worth camping out in a parking lot? :confused: I totally don't get the hysteria, but then again I don't get why people are willing to wait 90 minutes for a table at the Cheesecake Factory. I won't claim to have the *most* sophisticated palate in the universe, but I'm way above waiting in line for mass-produced food. I completely don't get it.

We had the same circus when Chik Fil A came to Kansas City. I just waited a few weeks...then noticed as I was passing one that it had no drive-thru line, so I ordered a sandwich. I'd put it at the higher-end of the fast-food spectrum (assuming you like chicken sandwiches), but not out-of-this-world awesome. I guess for the chicken aficionado it occupies the same space that In-N-Out does for the fast-food burger aficionado.

They must put crack in those sandwiches or something. Its a bun, a tiny piece of lettuce, and a perfectly ordinary piece of chicken. I don't get it.

Satan makes me go to Chick Fil-A. :) I wouldn't drive 20 miles out of my way, but 5 miles is conceivable. I like the Five Guys burger more, but I have yet to find one with a drive through.

It is, far and away the best fast food chicken sandwich I've ever had. The spicy chicken is decent, but a step below. The strips are equally good.

Among other things, their chicken contains MSG:

http://mmredeemer.org/wp-content/upl...ngredients.pdf

Mmmmm. TBHQ.

I like their lemonade (without any ice), and their frozen lemonade isn't too bad either (but it is more like a lemon yogurt/ice cream combination).

I think that they have the best chicken sandwich available anywhere, their salads are pretty good (big fan of the avocado lime dressing, although it is nowhere near healthy), and their workers are unfailingly polite.

Say whatever you want about their founder's personal beliefs, but their individual stores seem to benefit their local communities and promote and support education way more than any of their competitors ever do.

I do like Chik-Fil-A on occasion but I am not sure I would camp out for a week or so before an opening. Though I can see where a year's worth of free sandwiches would be a huge incentive.

We have lots of their stores in the Denver metro area so it's not something new. Though in Seattle, this is their first one in the region I believe.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 5.1; XT1032 Build/LMY47M.M001) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/42.0.2311.111 Mobile Safari/537.36)

They have brought in food to my workplace - between the mealy bland taste/texture of the chicken and the mooshy, undercooked waffle fries, I am another who doesn't get their rep for having "delicious" food. Men to the tenth degree ...
.

As far as their basic sandwich is concerned, yuk. The salads are good and the diet lemonade is drinkable. When I could eat dairy products, I liked their "ice dream". All in all, it's an ok place. I could care less about the quirks of the owner. He's entitled to his wrong opinions, just like the rest of the earth's population.

I like their nuggets and the waffle fries are pretty good too, especially dipped in the leftover honey mustard sauce. I wouldn't camp out for free food of any sort. In fact, I don't even like waiting in line behind more than 3 other diners.

CFA is nothing special. Their political stance just make it easier for me not to shop there. I'll camp for Nando's. Oz Oporto's is a much better chicken burger as well.

Presumably that's it.

Last November Dick's Sporting Goods opened up in the town where I live. They had a # of giveaways (gift cards etc). You had to be in the first 100 when they opened on the Fri/Sat/Sun. I had time on my hands so I stood in line for 30 minutes-60 minutes each day (listening to an audiobook so I wasn't bored). Got $55 in gift cards, t-shirt & water bottle. It was freeking cold though, & I realized that an hour is about my limit on doing something like that.

Cheers.

He is indeed entitled to his opinions, and I, in turn, am free to show my lack of support with my feet.

The irony is that the only day I really think about eating a Chick-Fil-A sandwich is on Sundays. Their loss.

This!!!

The only thing I can think of that might be close to worth it is a friend of mines smoked meats...but luckily he just lets me sit on his porch with a beer while we wait ;)


For C-F-A I'd say they have the best chicken sandwich out there by a pretty wide margin. I can't think of a fast food place that even comes close. Lemonade is really good too. Love to have one here.

Agree. I would never do this. I would never wait 45 minutes to wait for CF even though I don't go there as an average meal has more fat grams than 3 Whoppers.

They occasionally show up at a random event with chicken sandwiches (usually not fries). I agree with you: the stuff doesn't travel well. Most fast food doesn't. By the time it gets wherever you are and someone's handing it to you out of a big cooler, it's got a soggy texture to it. True whether it's burgers, chicken, tacos, or whatever.

If I have any kind of fast food brought in at work, I get Chipotle. A burrito in foil tastes fine 20-30 minutes after it's prepared. Pairs well with chips and salsa that are obviously packed separately. Anything else (CFA, Taco Bell, Five Guys, etc.) has to be eaten 0-5 minutes after it's prepared. 30 minutes later it's just...yuck.

Solid choice. Its been a while but when we did it the burritos came unassembled (big thing of meat, cheese, beans, etc). Held up really well IMO.

Yikes

I've never eaten at a CFA & there isn't one where I live, but after reading this thread where people are raving about the chicken sandwiches I'm tempted to do so once in the future just to try it.

Cheers.

Make sure to get the lemonade as well ;)

Will do, but it won't be anytime soon. The nearest CFA is 100 miles from where I live. No chicken sandwich/lemonade is worth that long of a drive ;)

Cheers.

Nope.

Yes, but on a different planet from CFA.

I'm in a grand funk today since the restaurant I'd been virtually waiting for opened their reservations a day early and I missed out on a once in a lifetime experience.

[Removed quote of and response to now-deleted OMNI/PR-esque material]

the breakfast biscuits aren't bad.

It's for the free food... people do crazy stuff for free things all the time. All the people that camp out for Black Friday, for example. Not my thing and I would never do it, but I also don't care what other people do with their time.

OT: Curious if you grew up in the south - I've heard several locals complaining that CFA's biscuits shouldn't be sweet.

They must be getting the chicken minis, which are their chicken tenders on Sister Schuberts rolls and those are sweet. The chicken biscuits aren't sweet.


And yes the reason people are camping out is the free food. I have a few friends that have done it multiple times. I wouldn't ever do it, but whatever floats their boat.

I can't eat their fried chicken anymore (gives me heartburn), but they recently changed their grilled chicken and it's a much better product than it used to be. So I'll occasionally get that or a salad if I'm with someone else that wants to go there.

Yes - I've seen that done for larger catered events and it looks awesome. For us, it's more a case where someone wants to call a meeting, and the only timeslot available is noon, so we just take orders for 6-8 burritos and order online.

Not sure if this is done at all CFA's, but, come 10:30am, employees will give away all breakfast items to those sitting in the dining room at the time.

I did not grow up in the south. I adopted it as my home.

My taste in biscuits is pretty mainstream. My taste in cornbread (sweet) is considered heresy.

I've lived in a half dozen CFA markets and visited dozens more and never heard of this. However at 10:30 in the morning, I'm almost never at a CFA. I may try this tomorrow. If you're right, I know where I will be at 10:30 6 mornings a week after I retire. ^

To Americans, "free food" is such a multi-tiered combo of hope, joy, satisfaction and bliss that it's no wonder you can get thousands to camp out for it.

The only more powerful two-word phrase in the US? "Free liquor."

Considering that the food is all made-to-order [fries included] and takes a minimum of ~10-minutes, I doubt you will ever see a Five Guys drive-thru.

I can't imagine being the third guy in line and having to wait ~20-30 minutes for a burger.

What do you define as an "average meal"? Sandwich, fries, 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew and 2 quarts of ice cream?

Whopper - 650 cal, 37g fat, 11g saturated fat, 1.5g transfat, 60mg cholesterol, 50g carbs

CFA classic - 440 cal, 18g fat, 4g saturated fat, 0g transfat, 55mg cholesterol, 41g carbs

CFA grilled - 320 cal, 5g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 0g transfat, 65mg cholesterol, 40g carbs

Fries - 400 cal, 21g fat, 3g saturated fat, 0g transfat, 0mg cholesterol, 48g carbs

Check my math, but 39 (or 26) isn't greater than 111.

I believe I checked every single sandwich, wrap, and salad and couldn't find a single item even close to the fat of just one Whopper.

I wanted to challenge that assertion myself but was too lazy to do the research. Thank you.

Indeed, and when supplied at one's place of employment, free food seems to take on inscrutable and magical powers, even more so if the wages provided are sufficient to keep employees quite well-fed, and Engel's law applies firm-wide.

Same here :p