But why?
It would take longer to drive there sit in that line and then drive home than it would take to just make chicken for yourself. Add some pickle juice to your chicken seasoning and it’ll taste just like Chick-fil-A. Then you could have delicious chicken at home without all of the Christian hate, er, love.
I was reading the chic fil a guys biography in a thrift store other day. It opens with how he was going to give a guy a free car, but recorded the "you get a car" message at the end of 3 consecutive cassette tapes of Christian preacher sermons. Presumably, that's, what, between 3 and 6 hours worth of church to have a chance to catch the message that you get a free car?
Then the guy didn't listen to them all the way through so didn't get a car.
The guy was essentially orphaned from an abusive home and walked hours to work every day. The chic fil a guy was like "what an unfortunate story!"
motherfucker you tricked him like some kind of goblin
Plus it's not just about total time between "I want food" and "Nom nom". There's also the matter of how usable that time is. On a good day it might only take me a few minutes longer to get fast food, but all of that time is spent behind the wheel and most of it is spent driving. Making a sandwich at home, on the other hand, only about a minute is spent actively handling food. The other seventeen minutes while the patty cooks are free; I can it spend doing anything I please. So instead of comparing twenty minutes for fast food vs. eighteen minutes for DIY, it's really more like twenty minutes vs. one minute.
Chick-fil-a chicken is fried. You really shouldn’t be off doing something else in your home while you’re frying anything.
I have an air fryer but it doesn’t really fry things. Not in the way an actual fryer does. All an air fryer is, is a convection oven.
well my experience is that it works just as well, and is much more convenient.
just dip stuff in egg and panko then toss it into the air fryer, yeah sure whatever it's not technically frying but it tastes good so i don't give a shit.
Well I’m glad you like it. But for everyone else who wants actually fried food I think they’re stick with fryers lol
You need to buy the ingredients, which likely means you are committing to cooking at least four sandwiches. So you are going to have to go out to the grocery store anyway.
Cooking means you need to know how to cook the chicken. If you are going from deciding to eating, you aren't going to have time to brine the chicken. You also need to cook the fries, which may take longer than the chicken unless you cook premade fries.
You also need to clean up after you are done cooking, which adds additional time.
And if you really like a fast food place, they likely have an app so you can order and it will be ready by the time you get there.
Cfa moves fast. That's probably only a 10 min wait. If that was a mcdonald's or burger king it would be an hour wait.
Is it true that you had to perform oral sex on an effigy of Pat Robertson as a means of entering timecard punches?
It was almost 20 years ago that I worked there, but yeah I still do. Used to get a spicy chicken wrap for my free meal everyday.
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.
Popeyes is decent but a lot of the time the ones I've been to have been a pretty low quality experience. I'm sure that's mostly due to wages being low....
Popeyes is always a low quality experience. It’s a part of the company brand at this point.
It's incredibly easy to understand, people have different tastes and are able to not mind that it's packed! They're probably also unaware/don't care that the restaurant is owned by bigots.
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.
McDonald’s is franchised. We have a dope ass one down the road from me where honestly I can’t remember the last time I waited longer than 5 minutes. Without line maybe 2.
There’s one across town that’s garbage for wait times. They are owned by different people.
Frankly, if I knew I had to wait ten minutes for a chicken sandwich I’d just find a local bar & grill and have a cold one with it.
I'm not from the US and don't like American fast food. How does 2 minute fast food work? They must precook most of the food and just assemble it for the customer. Why do y'all buy that shit? Wouldn't you rather wait 10 minutes for a decent meal cooked fresh to order? Is there no alternative?
How does 2 minute fast food work? They must precook most of the food and just assemble it for the customer.
Yes. That's how fast food works.
Why do y'all buy that shit?
It's cheap and fast.
Wouldn't you rather wait 10 minutes for a decent meal cooked fresh to order?
Buddy, if it's only taking 10 minutes, it ain't "cooked fresh to order".
Is there no alternative?
Sure. But people like fast food, for one reason or another. It's like you're assuming that because you don't like it, no one else likes it either, and they only eat it out of necessity. How arrogant of you.
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That's a very long time for Maccas, unless you were ordering for twenty people
Even when nothing in your order is ready they can get out a standard meal in less than ten minutes, normally
Maybe it's just because the one near me has horrible quality control but the lines are long, they are not quick, and the sandwiches are mediocre at best
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They are incredibly efficient
Being efficient for a drive through and being efficient on an absolute scale are entirely different things. In reality, there is no such thing as an efficient drive through once you account for all the externalities.
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
It did change AFAIK. So they got to double dip. They gave in to the pressure and religious nuts flock to them.
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.
[Chick-Fil-A's] WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas," the chain is said to have written in a letter to Alderman Proco Moreno. The Chicago group added in a press release: "In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations, such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage.
Those aren't the only two; per their own press release they've donated to these Christian Nationalist organizations.
An American fast food restaurant with two drive-through lines wrapping entirely around the building, along with at least 10 curb-side pickup parking spots. At least 48 visible vehicles waiting for their christian bigotry-flavored chicken sandwiches and nuggets (Chick-Fil-A is the name of the restaurant).
We don't have one where I live, and every time my wife and I go to relatives houses where one is, she keeps telling me how good their food was growing up. I've never had them, and by the time I could drive to another town that had one, I was well aware of how shitty they are.
So every holiday, she breaks out the gift cards we got at our wedding, and asks if we can go this time. I've explained to her why I refuse to go. She agrees they're shitty. She still wants to eat there. So I tell her "I won't try to stop you from eating there, but I won't be joining you."
Unfortunately this attitude also makes me drive almost an hour to get things for some hobbies because I refuse to shop at hobby lobby. Most of their stuff feels like "curated aliexpress" though. Cheap shit, but someone found the best cheap shit. Someone gifted me a leather stamp from there that snapped on its second hit. Looked nice though.
I mean if you have a gift card then the money is already spent. Might as well get what was paid for rather than let them have the free money. Especially since she's your wife and it will make her happy to share what is clearly a beloved part of her childhood with you.
As for your last point, remember, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. The only way to really consume ethically is to simply consume less. If that fails and you're spending the money anyways, might as well do what brings the best value to you and yours so you can pass the savings on to what you do value. There are worse things than fringe homophobia that your dollar may be supporting at another shop which receives less media coverage than hot button issues like the identity politics that are always in the news. Don't know where you prefer to shop but just the act of going so far out of your way supports oil companies, for example, in a way that it wouldn't have otherwise. If you're in an EV, that supports exploitative lithium mining by reducing battery life (however slight) and your local corrupt power monopolies when you charge it back up.
Just my unsolicited two cents, do with it what you will. It's cope, to be sure, but sometimes you just have to cope with what you can't change. Give me the serenity to accept what I can't change, the courage to change what I can and knowing the difference and all that.
Oh for fuck sake, its your wife, go with her. Its not like to eat shitty for one lunch or another that is going to make your lite ruin.
I can see the appeal of fast food when you really can't be arsed to make anything, or you're away from home or whatever, but I can't fathom why you would wait in a line that is charitably going to take an hour to get to you, for incredibly bland food.
Especially when you could park up, go inside and skip the massive queue of cars. Or just eat literally anywhere else.
Tbf the people at the end of this line will wait maximum 20 minutes. They can achieve this because instead of doing the typical intercom->window fast food setup they have employees outside walking between cars and putting the order into iPads, then another set walking food to your car.
On another note, those outdoor employees are regularly forced to stay outside in extreme heat and cold without proper protection. If they want to wear a jacket it has to be a Chick-fil-A jacket, which they have to buy from the company. Lots of videos online about people working the drive thru line.
The ones by me have booths for those employees, that are heated in the winter, and have AC in the summer.
Mine has a single booth iirc but I've never seen it used and its past the intercom so the system definitely wouldn't work the same if it was
Yes unfortunately many good jobs and much of our factories are building cars :/ This sets bad incentives for politicians and voters.
There's a Chick-fil-a in my town that had to pay to redo the parking lot multiple times because cunts would block the street to get into the drive thru.
Also "chick filet" is literally meaning "a cut of baby chicken carcass".
They also have a history of donating to christian camps that try to convert homosexuals (usually children) to become heterosexual using physical and psychological torture.
Everything about this company is evil.
Imagine how many people you could get to circle around a square building if they had pedestrian friendly infrastructure
Exactly, why would you wait in line for drive-in when you can just park your car and order inside? I thought the concept of drive-in was invented to save time, not waste it.
In North America it is common to have about 75% of the staff focus on filling drive thru orders while the rest handle walk ins. I'll frequently see 4-5 employees working different stations to make the drive thru flow while 1 employee has to handle all the work (except maybe the grill) for the walk ins.
In nearly every aspect of life in North America, you are treated as a second class citezen if you walk instead of drive.
Where I work, most of the staff are focused on the drivethru. You have only 3 employees for dine-in and DoorDash/Uber/Skip. One makes all of the sandwiches, one runs back and forth to grab drinks and fries from the stations, and the other is the front counter order taker. We still get horribly overwhelmed because people tend to show up in large groups, usually high school students or seniors. The poor fry station person has to make both the drivethru and dine-in orders quickly.
I do wonder why the car park to the right of the store is blocked off by traffic cones.... 🤷
it says something very interesting that the chik-fil-faithful swear up and down it's the tastiest thing ever when it's weak soggy breaded no spice bland ass whitemeat with a fuckin' pickle.
makes me wonder if they've either never had decent chicken, or are just lying because this one chicken vendor stans for xtians lol
I personally can’t think of any other fast food chicken sandwich that’s as good or better. Maybe Popeyes chicken sandwich if you want something crispier.
I... I kinda like them <.< If they're that bad, someone please save me with good chicken sandwiches. I will wait. The cat on my lap will not.
Yeah I don't understand the people who claim Chick-fil-a is bland.
Soggy, sure, sometimes. All fried food can be soggy, if you go on a bad day and you get a piece that's been sitting for too long.
No spice, sure. Spice is relatively subjective. They do have the spicy sandwich which I think is better than the plain, but that's my opinion, other people may not agree.
White meat, yeah, they use white meat. I like white meat, when it's done well, but again, that's subjective.
Bland though, I just can't fathom. The way Chick-fil-a prepares their chicken before frying is a wet brine. Chemically, there is no way for wet-brined chicken to come out bland. Either osmosis takes place and salt gets inside the meat, or osmosis doesn't happen because the salt was already there. And Chick-fil-a's quality standards are stringent, so a particular franchise couldn't get away with skipping that step, at least not for long. So you can call Chick-fil-a many things, but if someone calls it bland, I question if they've actually eaten there.
Chemically, there is no way for wet-brined chicken to come out bland. Either osmosis takes place and salt gets inside the meat, or osmosis doesn’t happen because the salt was already there.
AND YET IT IS. It's only excitement is the pickle and fighting traffic lol.
I'm sure the chicken you're cooking up on the hot plate in your 7th floor walkup is stellar.
Dude home made fried chicken is ALWAYS better. Once a batch size gets too large it always sucks. Give it a try you wont look back.
Commercial fryers keep a higher, more consistent temperature, which is ideal for frying food. As long as the cook knows what they're doing, keeps the oil fresh, etc., you will always get a better result from a restaurant fryer (not talking about CFA anymore).
In my opinion, this should be illegal or businesses fined. Their drive thru leaks onto public infrastructure (the road) reducing its throughput and potentially creating a dangerous situation.
Judging by the cordoned off parking spaces, I'm assuming this photo is from a COVID measure.
There are many Tim Hortons drive thrus leaking into the streets from pre covid to post covid.
If the shittiness of Tom Hortons coffee isn't going to stop people using the drive-through, I don't know what legislation is going to do. /s
Things I think have a legitimate use case to retain drive-throughs: Car-washes, Oil changes, Tire changes, gas stations. Basically anything where the car is what is being worked on.
Yes, it should be illegal. This happens with all the cult-y fast foods places out here. In N Out, Whataburger, Hate Chicken (aka Chick fil A), Dutch Bros, etc.
Parking, getting out, and going inside will easily save you 50%+ wait time.
Weren't parking minimums supposed to prevent this? :-D
Then again, the worse the traffic jams the more people may consider alternatives.
I don’t understand Dutch bros. I guess if you prefer a lil coffee in your choccy milk, then it’s the place to go
If anyone's going to get a fine there it would really be the individuals. While the business is creating the demand, there isn't really any process they could put in place to stop people lining out onto the road.
Also, if we were going to forbid it, what would be the substantive difference with forbidding just parking on the public road? Which, yeah, that's definitely a conversation we should have and a direction we should move towards—it'd probably have a greater effect anyway. But it's not clear that there's really a great mechanism for specifically banning queueing.
Yeah that'd be reasonable.
What really annoys me is that it's pretty obvious that places will prioritise the drive-through over in-store customers. You can go in and watch car after car get served at the window while you wait for your meal.
The drive thru is perfect for the fast food owner. Most of the time they dont have to worry about guests using tables, using the washrooms, dirtying the floors etc. It processes the customer and gets them off their property faster.
Perfect for the owner, a complete waste of resources for everyone else... Hard to make a choice
Yeah go ahead and get right on that. Be sure to tell Congress and the President of the USA that is the priority they need to be working on.
The USA isn't the only country in the world so you take care of your shit in your own country and seeing the number of omnibus bills that pass Congress, I'm sure it could very easily pass without anyone noticing, just like most stupid laws do in your country.
They actually reworked a parking lot here a couple times to extend their lanes so it didn't fuck anything up. Probably depends on city and location, but they can't really control assholes that are willing to fuck you for some tendies.
They absolutely can do something about it.
Make it illegal to block the road to use a drive thru, the problem is much like many other traffic laws, it will rarely be enforced.
In WA they've had to close one because morons would back up onto the street, down an offramp, and onto the freaking interstate. For a chicken sandwich.
Of course it's in a non-walkable spot, across the interstate from all of the businesses and offices so everyone drives there
fuck I hated getting off 405 there, fucking madhouse bellevue christian chicken frenzy every fucking lunchtime
They did! But I'm real real nervous it's only to add another drive-thru or something stupid.
I don’t get it either. The chicken sandwich is OK at best. A solid 7/10 just for consistency. Everything else is meh. People seem to like their fry sauce, which is probably required to eat their flat tasting waffles fries.
Americans like sauces and dressings on things. Ranch on everything, unless it comes with their own sauce.
I grew up around the East Coast of the US so I've been exposed to Chick-fil-A since I was born. Then I lived a good portion of my life in the West Coast, and when Chick-fil-A starting popping up here, people were going nuts over it. I guess they still are and I feel like I'm the only sane one who knows their food is mid at best with all their sauces
Here in New England they're really struggling from what I've seen. Parking lots and drive-thrus empty despite having this crazy 2-lane designed drive-thru. I think different regions have different guilty pleasures.
I think a lot of the comments here mischaracterize chik fil a as another shitty burger joint in a way that would be confusing to people that never seen one. They make really good chicken sandwiches because chicken sandwiches is almost the only thing they make. While most fast food joints might have 1-3 people running it during non-peak hours, chic fil a constantly has a small army in there. I don't even know how so many people stay busy but that crazy looking line pictured will be cleared out in under 10 minutes.
They did but no longer do. The owners may still personally, but if you were to dig into the owners of every company you'd probably come to the conclusion that there is no ethical consumption under capitolism.
I don't see anywhere they've done either of those things. The closest they've come is saying on Facebook that they'll stay out of the "policy debate": https://www.facebook.com/ChickfilA/posts/10151226208515101
Being decent to every human shouldn't be considered politics.
They actually don’t any more. They’ve apparently refocused their charity contributions to helping the homeless or something like that.
"they've changed" - you say it like a corporation has a moral compass, or feelings. It's just a piece of paper.
If they're moving money in a different direction today compared to how they did yesterday, that's a change.
Your belief in if that is or isn't a change is irrelevant - it is a change.
Did the religious assholes running it have a change of heart towards LGBT+ people? Probably not. But no-one is saying they did.
The LGBTQ people I know go there anyway because there's no ethical consumption under capitalism. There are LGBTQ people working there, too.
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Before I started actively boycotting them for their support of anti-LGBTQ work, I always felt their chicken was only ok. I think burger king’s Ch’King is way better and that Arby’s chicken sandwich is also superior. When they finally got to my market I was thrilled and then very quickly let down.
I asked a bi friend of mine his thoughts about the whole donation thing, and they included "it's a great fucking sandwich" so he's my out to get one when I am in the US.
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As a member of the LGBTQ community myself, I don’t begrudge you that at all. My feelings on the matter are my own and I don’t need or expect others to conform to them.
I just also happen to not like them at all so it helps with the boycott 😅
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I haven't had Popeyes in so long. There’s only one near me but there’s so much more that I love between here and there.
Unfortunately for most Americans, this is the situation. All of those places have a mediocre chicken sandwich because all of the restaurants are chains. Small businesses struggle with how new commercial areas are built, and chains run on such thin margins it is hard to compete.
I live in a Chicago neighborhood and have access to many delicious, reasonably priced chicken sandwiches. I have not had the need or the craving to go back to chic fila a since
How's it meant to be pronounced? I've only ever seen it written down.
Chick feeler? Chick filler? Chick fill urgh Chick fill Ah
I just don't understand what they're trying to call it. Unless it is "filler", my best guess is something like "fillet", though I can't make the letters match up with the words.
Chick-Fil-A is pronounced Chick-fuh-lay. It is like Chick-Filet, but the American pronunciation of filet (and what I would assume the proper French pronunciation -- the 't' is silent).
Ah, okay - so the "A" is pronounced like the letter "A", with the "feelay" bit like when McDonalds used to do "filet o'fish"?
The only reason the lines backup now is because they don't use the normal drive thru system anymore. They try to be innovative and have people standing outside with iPads to take your order. Then you sit and wait for them to cook it all because they took too many orders at one time.also they usually have multiple lines all merge into one window. It's madness over at the chic fil a drive thru!
Having worked at a Wendy's, McDonald's, and a Chick-fil-A... The Chick-fil-A system is superior. At least from an employee standpoint. The amount of volume that we could move through the drive thru with the two lane system and people taking orders in person was kind of insane.
It shows with the employees, too. Slinging free drinks and pupper cups at me. Someone was a dick trying to get in line? Have some lemonade, bitch.
It is exactly like you said, but the line moves! It's nothing like other fast food restaurants. Yes chick looks like madness, but it's a controlled madness. It reminds me of Costco. If you been there during peak hours, it's a total madhouse. But, a controlled madhouse.
Idk before our Chick-Fil-A added the second line and started with the iPads, the line extended out onto the four lane road leading into the parking lot and back a block or two.
Same with the restaurant I work at, the parking lot is woefully too small for the volume of traffic we get, and the line regularly spills onto one of the busiest roads in town and holds up traffic badly. We're the third busiest restaurant of its brand in Canada.
You'd think so, but Chic Fil A is insanely fast to the point where sitting in line probably faster than the walk and wait.
Notice how the entire car park to the right (where there is one car) is blocked off by traffic cones? I bet that isn't helping.
But as for the others.. yeah.
I thought Tim Horton line ups were bad. Holy heck how do they even account for this at the city planning level?
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That's the neat part: they don't!
(Seriously, my city at least is so understaffed it's like the wild fuckin' west, with business owners doing whatever the Hell they want and betting they won't get caught.)
I was just thinking about this today downstairs in the food court at the bottom of the office building I work in. Hundreds of people come through there for the lunch rush to dozens of fast food restaurants (sushi, buritoes, Thai etc), all in the space of less than 30x30m including seating. I was thinking: there's no way you could do this with a drive through.
Been to Chik-Fil-A before, they arent even that great, or at least not especially compelling compared to kfc or popeyes. maybe im missing something though idk.
Deffo not so good I'd wait in a line longer then about four cars for them, and in my neck of the woods they have not caught on to that extent. Three of them by me and the lines are fairly minimal at each. So either amazing staff or folks dgaf about them. I'm leaning towards latter personally.
That must be the case because we had a Cracker Barrel around here too and it failed pretty hard. Chik-Fil-A is surviving somehow though so I guess enough of their base is around for that at least.
I love Dutch Bros but they all look just like this too. Often with cars forming a line in the actual street.
> Dutch Bros
> no racks stacked with bikes, or bike-through
As a Dutchman, what a Bullshit Brand