This story is part of much larger story. I’m only going to scrape the surface today and leave the rest for another day.
Yesterday I was in Joplin, Missouri to pickup my oldest son from the hospital. As we were returning to his house, he asked if we could grab something to eat. Since I’m never one to say no…I asked him what he wanted and he said “A chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A”. I dutifully entered the address into my phone and we headed over to the restaurant.
I’ve known for a while that Chick-fil-A is popular, but yesterday was a testament to how wildly popular this restaurant is. When we pulled into the parking lot, I got a little confused, there were three lines cars snaking around the building. As a newbie to the Chick-fil-a experience, I didn’t realize that all three lines were going to continue all the way around the building and through the drive-thru “window”. So I panicked and we pulled out of the lot, around the block, and into a parking space. I then opted to go into the store to place our order.
On my way in I noticed that there are a lot of employees working the drive-thru. This wasn’t just a case of some bored teenager sitting in a remote booth mumbling “may I take your order” and “would you like fries with that”. While most of the workers were teens, there were probably two dozen of them hustling from car to car, taking orders on remote terminals and greeting customers with genuine smiles. There was a lot of chit-chat between the team members and customers, yet the cars were moving around the building at an incredible pace. As I walked towards the door, I was actually greeted by a couple of employees and heard snippets of conversations between patrons and workers. I was astounded at how cheerful everybody was.
As I walked into the restaurant, a girl at the counter made eye contact, and despite being 50-plus feet apart, and she was by no means the closest worker, I knew exactly where I was going to place my order. I’ve only been inside a Chick-fil-A a couple of times, so I’m not terribly familiar with their menu. But I had specific instructions from my son, so I knew what he was getting.
Maggie, the team member who was helping me, was extremely friendly and super-patient. She recognized that I was lost looking at the menu, and made some great suggestions to help me along.
When I completed the order, she took my money and also complimented me on my yellow jacket. Mind you, I’ve had this jacket since my last year of college…in 1985. It’s somewhat ratty, and I’ve made more repairs to it than I can count. But it’s bright yellow, so it’s kind of hard to miss. It’s also wind- and water-proof, so it’s my go-to when I’m at Spring track meets. What was interesting to me was Maggie made this compliment with all the sincerity in the world and mentioned that “your kids probably never lose you at an event”. It’s kind of funny, but that’s exactly the thing they say. My yellow jacket is one way they know how to find me in a sea of spectators at a meet.
I know it was a little thing, but Maggie’s comment tied together lots of the things that Chick-fil-A stands for. She mentioned family. She made me feel good about my ratty old jacket. And she took an interest in me as a person, even if it was just for a minute.
She zipped off to make my drinks, and before she made it back another team member had delivered my food. She was somewhat embarrassed that the food got to me before the drinks, and she stumbled through an apology. Again, I was astounded, my entire encounter from my first tentative words of my order to the moment she handed me my drink was about 90 seconds! And here was this girl apologizing for making me wait. I was just blown away.
As I looked down the counter, there were two team members standing at every order station, not something I’d noticed when I first walked in. One greeted the customer and took their order, while the other one zipped off to get the food from the production area. Fascinatingly, when they didn’t have a customer to serve, the team members were talking and joking with each other. Frankly, it sounded like a holiday meal at Hectic Manor. These folks sounded more like a family than co-workers.
Walking through the drizzle back to my parked car, I noticed more about the team members working the triple drive-thru lanes. They were also working in small groups. Several were shuttling back and forth ensuring that the front-line staff had fresh batteries for their order pads. A couple were walking about talking with customers who were waiting for their orders to be filled. I honestly couldn’t tell you who was a manager and who was a line-worker. Everybody was about the same age. No one was ordering other workers about. It was fascinating to watch.
It’s kind of weird to write a blog post about a fast food restaurant. And I know it’s even weirder to write one praising the employees. Far too often, I’m that grumpy guy who just wants to place my order and get out…and the team members at the fast food place oblige by interacting as little as possible…sometimes in a vaguely surly manner. But Chick-fil-A was quite the exception. Everybody seemed really nice. The restaurant was impeccably clean, despite being crowded and super-busy. While there were tons of cars in the drive-thru, nobody seemed to have to wait long. And during their wait everyone was smiling…from team members to the patrons.
Think about the last time you went to a fast food joint…what was your experience like? Was it like walking into a family event where everybody was having a good time and truly enjoyed being there?
I know for me, Chick-fil-A really stood out as an example of exactly that feeling. And frankly, I’m anxious to go back to another one just to experience that feeling!