CHICK-FIL-A - Life in America

[Music] in 1946 samuel truitt cathy opened a new restaurant with his brother ben called the dwarf grill the diner style restaurant was located in hapeville georgia a suburb of atlanta the name of the restaurant would later be renamed dwarf house [Music] it was in this diner nearly 20 years later that kathy developed a new chicken sandwich recipe hand breaded and perfectly seasoned the chicken was cooked in a pressure cooker and served on a toasted buttered bun with two pickles these sandwiches were a hit at the dwarf house so kathy looked for other opportunities to sell the sandwich [Music] he found an opportunity with a new diner chain called waffle house that was located in and around atlanta truett kathy worked out a deal to sell his chicken sandwich at all waffle house locations but the deal was short-lived the sandwich became so popular it was outselling waffle house's own menu items so the deal ended kathy had also worked out similar deals with many other restaurant vendors and the sandwich was always a big hit [Music] kathy knew he had something so he began to put together a plan for a new restaurant he had realized that a fast food hamburger had the same cooking time as a chicken sandwich when using a pressure fryer so in 1967 two years after finally perfecting his chicken recipe kathy was ready to open a chicken sandwich restaurant of his own the first chick-fil-a location opened in atlanta's greenbrier mall and was only 384 square feet the name chick-fil-a is a play on chicken fillet with the capital a at the end emphasizing the quality of the food [Music] between the 1970s and early 1980s the chick-fil-a chain began to extend its reach opening more and more locations and shopping mall food courts across the southeast the key was to keep the menu small and focus on customer service if you've ever been to a chick-fil-a the friendly service is what sets them apart [Music] truett kathy understood the importance of good customer service as a young boy he would sell coke door to door and turn a profit by serving them cold this was a time before air conditioning and people would sit out on their front porch to cool off so young kathy learned early on that you could sell more by putting customers first he also carried this idea into a paper route years later where he would treat each of his customers as if they were the governor this service paid off when it was time for him to collect money these and other experiences reinforced kathy's deep love for customers [Music] so with his chick-fil-a restaurants he insisted employees treat every customer as if they were the president he stated in his book if the president walked into the restaurant your voice and facial expressions would change you'd be eager to serve the president well make sure he had a clean table then go up and see if everything was all right or if he needed anything else if we're willing to do that for the president why not treat every customer that well and kathy also made sure to select franchise owners who also shared his love for people so the phrase my pleasure is one you will hear often any time you are at chick-fil-a after 20 years chick-fil-a began expanding outside of the shopping mall food court in april 1986 the very first stand-alone chick-fil-a restaurant was opened in atlanta georgia and many more were to follow [Music] for kathy his family was always his central focus and it would shape his unique approach to his business he was also a devout baptist and attended church and taught sunday school so the decision was made early on to be closed on sundays kathy began this tradition when he opened the dwarf grill back in 1946 he believed that all franchised chick-fil-a operators and their employees should have an opportunity to rest spend time with family and friends and worship if they chose to do so [Music] chick-fil-a has remained a private company primarily for religious reasons outlined by founder truitt cathy he knew that publicly chick-fil-a could not be as charitable as it is privately the deeply religious man who died in 2014 believed in charity as much as the policy of closing on sunday these charitable donations have also come under fire over the years chick-fil-a supports organizations that are in line with their religious beliefs therefore many groups have opposed the company for supporting groups that oppose same-sex marriage [Music] their slogan we didn't invent the chicken just the chicken sandwich may not be completely true but they certainly were the first to do it as a large-scale fast food restaurant the popular chain is consistently ranked high in consumer satisfaction surveys and the fact that most people tend to wait longer for their food at chick-fil-a because they are always extremely busy says something about the culture they have built customers return in droves to buy chicken sandwiches and waffle fries because they feel valued and appreciated when they spend their money there [Music] today the company generates more revenue per restaurant than any other fast food chain locations have popped up in almost every state with the exception of hawaii alaska and vermont in addition to open a chick-fil-a franchise is much different than with other chains it only costs you ten thousand dollars to do it but the competition is fierce chick-fil-a calls their franchisees operators this is because chick-fil-a owns all the restaurants and pays for all the startup costs including the real estate construction and restaurant equipment [Music] if you're interested it's worth noting that chick-fil-a gets around 20 000 applications for new franchises but they only accept about 20 new locations a year so you actually have less than a one percent chance but maybe you're feeling lucky [Music] let me know in the comments some of your own memories of chick-fil-a through the years and as always thanks so much for watching [Music] you

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 73,223

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, memory, yesteryear, golden age, photo album, oldies, fifties, sixties, abandoned, 20th century, chickfila, chick-fil-a, truett cathy, cows, s truett cathy, chick restaurant, fast food, restaurant, chicken sandwich, shopping malls, food court, atlanta, food, waffle fries

Id: uG_Gnx26xww

Length: 8min 7sec (487 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 13 2021