I don’t understand this restaurants draw. It’s not that good and it is always packed. And they are owned by bigots.
Chick-Fil-A has been around more than my whole life. I remember going there as a kid in the mall. I remember going there as an adult in the mall.
At no time eating at Chick-Fil-A do I once recall thinking to myself “goddamn, this is exceptional!” It’s a chicken sandwich. It’s not particularly good or bad, and I am not into waffle fries.
At no time eating at Chick-Fil-A did I once think “this line is too long, I will eat elsewhere.” I don’t recall ever seeing a line at all.
Long about 1986 they started making standalone locations, but I never saw any until the 2000s. I never went, because I had long since decided that mediocre chicken sandwiches weren’t really my thing. However, since I first noticed the standalone locations I have also noticed that their lines have consistently gotten longer and longer. It’s interesting that the growth of these lines seem to have coincided with the rise of social media, but I won’t get too tinfoil-hatty here.
So anyway. One day, I decided I should give them a try - obviously, they’re getting something right, right? Let’s see what all the hype is about.
Yeah no, it’s the exact same mediocre shit. It’s fine. It’s not great, it’s OK for fast food, maybe even slightly above average. But is it good enough to wait in a line like this that wraps around the building twice? No, thank you.
So I guess what I am saying is, I’m with you. I have to figure it’s the power of marketing, because the only thing they’ve done that I can see is increase their marketing. Also their marketing - at least the public marketing (who knows what guerilla shit they do on social media to keep those lines growing) - is super weird. Cows exhorting you to eat chicken, because they don’t want to die. I suppose given that cows have no messiah, this is a perfectly reasonable position for them to hold in the eyes of the Chick-Fil-A Illuminati, but idk.
Want a chicken sandwich? I can name half a dozen local shops that will hook you up with better. Is it fast? Jesus Christ, no. The apologists say yes, given the size of the lines, but I say no, given the size of the lines. I guess that’s a matter of perspective.
What’s not disputable is that this is fast food that, like all fast food - you can honestly live better without.
It’s not that good compared to any food that isn’t fast food, but compared to other fast food joints it’s hard to beat on quality alone.
I absolutely hate this brand as a company but compared to other options in my area (DFW Texas) this terrible brand is usually faster and cheaper. If I forgot my lunch or something I may go here. Fortunately some of the newer chains have decided it might be a good idea to not be super expensive and slow and I’ve been going to those instead.
I used to eat lunch at one of these via motorcycle and would walk inside and every single fucking time I’d nearly be run over by a distracted driver.
Yeah like I’m not at all a chick fil a Stan. They don’t have much of a food selection and for chicken I actually prefer Popeyes by like a country mile but it isn’t because Popeyes chicken is higher quality, that’s for certain lmao.
It is good for fast food and, despite being packed, you could join a line of 20 cars and still be on your way in under five minutes. They are incredibly efficient and that helps when people are making decisions, especially with a screaming child in the back.
More like 10. Compare that to other fast food, and they are legitimately very fast. Last time I went to a McDonalds, it took well over 20 minutes.
What is the bigoted part about them? Sorry, my country only has a handful of American chains(looks at shitty pizza from Dominoes) and I don’t think this one has launched here yet.
The owners are (or at least were) serious about their Christian beliefs and used the company’s wealth to help fund anti-LGBTQ+ groups. Whether that’s changed or not, I don’t know, but they shell mediocre chicken sandwiches so it’s no loss to just ignore them, except for the amount of pollution people seem to generate waiting in line around their buildings:
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/29/18644354/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-donations-homophobia-dan-cathy
Did you read that article? The way people talk about you’d think they were donating to conversion camps. But the two organizations named were… The Fellowship of Christian Athletes and The Salvation Army. I mean far be it from me to say what constitutes “anti-lgbt organizations”, but it seems clear to me now why the specific organizations are never mentioned.
