A Broken Soldier Invented Chick-fil-A. This Is How It Happened.

can i take your order can i get a cheeseburger please and you said cheeseburger [Music] truett kathy was a c student when he decided to get serious about his future he opened the diner with his youngest brother only two years later he lost him and another sibling to a plane crash and later his second diner burnt down in flames afterwards he was forced to take out a loan and start over a third time when customers walked out he took his mother's fried chicken recipe and created chick-fil-a an 11 billion dollar fortune surviving the great depression 46 years before the first chick-fil-a restaurant opened in 1921 truitt kathy was born in edenton georgia to a family of seven children when the great depression hit they moved to a public housing project in downtown atlanta by then truitt's father's job as an insurance salesman was no longer enough to support them so their mother welcomed borders into their tiny one-bathroom home to make ends meet truett helped her by making the beds and cleaning the bathroom when he was free he watched her prepare many dishes including a traditional southern style fried chicken later truett took up several odd jobs to help support the family he sold coca-cola bottles delivered newspapers and even gave out peanuts eventually he became the primary breadwinner in the family but as he excelled at work his studies took a back seat he became a c student who didn't have any confidence in himself and even questioned his social abilities it seemed like other people had more talent than i did we used to share reading books and the person reading with me got ahead i just couldn't understand after high school he never got the chance to redeem himself in college he was drafted in the us army during world war ii when he was honorably discharged he and his brother ben decided it was time to get serious about their future at the time small 24-hour diners were popping up all over the country they had a gut feeling that they could succeed in the business and decided to open one together to come up with the money truett sold his car and took out a loan with a total of ten thousand dollars he and ben opened a diner called the dwarf house because of its size there were only four tables and ten stools the business grew quickly but not without sacrifice they alternated between 12-hour shifts and only took sundays off i exhausted myself but it was a temporary price to pay for the future years later the kathy brothers discovered god had different plans for them that changed the course of their lives forever losing everything overnight twice 25 years before chick-fil-a tripled in size one saturday ben and another brother horus flew a small plane to attend an air show in tennessee but they never made it or flew past georgia the plane's motor broke down and crashed none of truitt's brothers survived the loss hit me particularly hard on monday morning when i saw ben made the report sheet on saturday afternoon in good health i realized that he would never be back and tears flowed with a wife and young child truett had no choice but to continue business as usual he also felt obligated to ensure his brother's wife and niece were taken care of for the rest of their lives from then on truitt's wife jeannette worked countless hours in the diner together they created a warm family atmosphere that helped the business grow only two years later they managed to build a second diner in forest park georgia but overnight their budding empire was cut in half during the wee hours of a cold morning their second diner blew into flames by sunset it was destroyed insurance alone wasn't enough to rebuild it i faced some tough questions do i take a giant step back to just one restaurant which would mean having to lay off employees do i incur more debt and rebuild the restaurant as it was or is it time for something new truitt was convinced it was time for something new so he took out a 90 000 loan and opened his third restaurant this time he introduced a cafeteria-style self-service concept at the time many americans were used to being served by waiters still a national trade magazine praised through its concept as being visionary but only one hour into opening day truett realized he made a big mistake where are the waitresses in our coffee refills customers asked as they walked away they hated the new concept for three months trud was unsure about what to do so he consulted a friend and restaurant owner ted davis you will lose customers but you'll gain others ted advised but if it bothers you i'd like to lease your building and buy your equipment truit considered his offer assigned to take a much needed break and a grade he learned the hard way that it isn't easy retaining customers and that along with quality customer service remains key to success turning waste into opportunity 32 years before chick-fil-a opened its 500th location for years the first and last standing dwarf house mainly served hamburgers until truett received an unexpected visit two brothers named jim and hal good asked if he would be interested in buying boneless skinless chicken breast pieces from them the poultry shop owners initially prepared them for delta airlines but they were too big to fit on the meal trays so the airline tossed them away what could i do with these truett thought to himself immediately he remembered his mother's southern fried chicken recipe she would marinate the chicken overnight and then use pans to pressure cook them in peanut boil true had experimented with the recipe for four years until he found the perfect combination a boneless breast of chicken seasoned to perfection hand breaded and served on a toasted buttered bun with dill pickles he called it chick-fil-a the last letter represented grade a the highest ranked chicken available at the time many americans considered chicken sandwich odd since they were more interested in a hamburger on average they ate 50 pounds of beef annually but when they tried kruit's chick-fil-a sandwich they were hooked it soon outsold his hamburgers and was sold by the good brothers in exchange for a royalty fee even mcdonald's considered selling them but lost interest meanwhile the houston astrodome signed an agreement to sell them from then on it took off within a matter of weeks 50 other restaurants joined in truett was on his way to rebuilding his empire but still wasn't happy the restaurants did not follow his instructions or maintain quality fortunately his sister gladys suggested an idea that would involve taking more risks and potentially a bigger payoff challenging the status quo 33 years before chick-fil-a became the third largest restaurant chain in america you need to open a chick-fil-a restaurant gladys pointed out at the time she ran a gift shop in the greenbrier shopping center and inside was a 384 square foot vacancy the perfect size for truett to start small while gladys convinced truett to apply for a lease he struggled even to be considered just like his chicken sandwich in the early days a shopping mall restaurant was seen as odd developers were hesitant about the idea they had a tea shop in sears and a coffee counter in woolworths and thought fast food would be a smoky mess not one to give up true it convinced the developers to take a chance on him in 1967 the first chick-fil-a restaurant opened within the first week the business started making a profit from then on dozens more open within mall food courts a first for the fast food industry but truitt didn't celebrate just yet he discovered that the business can make a bigger profit outside of food courts over two decades later he opened chick-fil-a's first free standing restaurant on north druid hills road in atlanta while it was difficult to go from renting space to buying land and constructing buildings the business experienced steady growth truit didn't touch a single dollar until there was more than 10 locations his insistence on being cautious and avoiding more debt paid off in 1993 truett opened his 500th chick-fil-a restaurant pushing the business into competition with kfc and other fast food chains and by 2006 sales surpassed two billion dollars today chick-fil-a is the third largest restaurant chain in america earning the kathy family an 11 billion dollar fortune it surged past wendy's burger king taco bell and subway within just one year and even though it remains closed on sundays and loses one billion dollars annually its sales per store is higher than any other chain now competitors are taking note including one that turned down a partnership in the early days mcdonald's franchise owners recently signed a joint letter urging the company to add a southern style chicken sandwich to its menu but along with chick-fil-a's secret recipe the company's unmatched customer service has helped them outrun competitors for years in an interview truett shared one of his secrets to success i believe that you must have a tremendous amount of faith in what you want to do you must be determined to make it no matter what the circumstances in the past 60 years no matter the ups or downs i've learned that the number one thing to do is to please the customer and they will come back this is the story of how a c student who faced a series of tragedies turned his mother's southern fried chicken recipe into an 11 billion dollar fortune for more inspiring stories and advice from today's most successful leaders don't forget to subscribe to our channel

Channel: Hook

Views: 760,880

Rating: 4.9304981 out of 5

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Id: 4a3DxLwXpqI

Length: 11min 39sec (699 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 19 2020