Despite being targeted by activists for destruction, it’s Chick-fil-A that now has the reason to crow:
It’s poised to leapfrog a few major competitors to become our nation’s number-three fast-food chain in terms of sales, remaining behind only McDonald’s and Starbucks. The kicker is that it does this being open only six days a week; Christian-owned, every franchise is closed Sundays.
Famous for its chicken sandwiches (where’s the beef? Not at Chick-fil-A) and for being a traditionalist company that wouldn’t chicken out of the culture wars, the chain has been flipped the bird by leftist activists. As WND.com reports:
Chick-fil-A, the fast-food restaurant with the famed cattle urging “Eat Mor Chikin,” recently was banned from Rider University’s campus because the company’s owners support traditional marriage.
The chain also faces a boycott in Toronto, and Pittsburgh officials tried to rid their city of the restaurant. The New Yorker magazine said it did not want another franchise in the Big Apple.
There’s a web page called “These are the Best Reasons to Hate Chick-fil-A.” And on Facebook is a page called “Boycott Chick-fil-A.”
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But now the starved (for Truth) leftists have yet another reason to hate the chain — and its growth must, well, uh, really stick in their craw, too. As WND also reports, “Boycotts WORK (just not the way they WANT them to): Awesome news about Chick-fil-A triggers Lefties and it’s DELICIOUS,” said a commentary at the Twitter news aggregating site Twitchy.”
As for details, the New York Post cites Kalinowski Equity Research and tells us that Chick-fil-A will “leapfrog past Taco Bell, Burger King and Wendy’s, the No. 4, 5 and 6 chains respectively” and take Subway’s number-three position.
“Last year, Chick-fil-A’s stores grew by nearly eight percent, to more than 2,100,” the Post relates. “Chick-fil-A’s sales are expected to grow as much as 15 percent to $10 billion on top of 14.2 percent growth last year, according to [analyst Mark] Kalinowski.”
Comparable-store sales are up only “between 4.5 percent and 7.5 percent this year,” the Post further relates. This is despite Chick-fil-A having been largely a Southeast phenomenon; it has only recently begun a greater push into the Midwest and Northeast.
In fact, Kalinowski wrote in his report that we “have long pointed out that Chick-fil-A is the restaurant competitor with which McDonald’s … should most concern itself — and by extension, investors should, too,” the Daily Caller informs.
For sure. In fact, “by what may be an even more important yardstick, per-store sales at Chick-fil-A already surpass those of McDonald’s and every other chain by a huge margin,” writes American Thinker’s Thomas Lifson. “According to QSR, an industry publication, Chick-fil-A’s per store sales in 2015 were only slightly lower than $4 million, compared to $2.5 million for McDonald’s. No other chain comes within a million dollars per store of Chick-fil-A’s phenomenal sales.”
Moreover, adds Lifson, “The closest unit of Chick-fil-A is about a half-hour’s drive from my home, which means there are still some attractive growth opportunities ahead for the chain before it reaches anything like a saturation point, as I live in the midst of a huge metropolitan area.” It’s likewise in my densely populated region: The closest Chick-fil-A is at least a half-hour from my town.
So, closed on Sundays, offering no beef, centered in the Southeast — what’s the secret of Chick-fil-A’s success? Well, when I patronized its restaurants while traveling, I encountered what customers usually cite: excellent food delivered with friendliness at fair prices. Reflecting this, Chick-fil-A has been named America’s top fast-food chain in customer satisfaction three years running. Its Christian foundation shines through.
Yet there could also be another factor. In an age of government-entwined corporations pushing leftist agendas, Chick-fil-A’s traditionalist stances offer a refreshing bite of Americana. (It can do this partially because it’s not a corporation, and it will forever remain private based on the wishes of its late founder, Dan Cathy.)
This traditionalism can make a difference. People are more likely to patronize, and be loyal to, businesses about which they feel good. So the pseudo-elites may condemn Chick-fil-A, but its success illustrates what President Ronald Reagan called “the difference between critics and box office.”
This isn’t to say lefties don’t indulge Chick-fil-A. Infamously liberal Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey got social-media spanked earlier this year when he tweeted about getting a 10-percent discount (which he surely needs!) at a Los Angeles outlet.
Dorsey subsequently apologized, but I’ve a feeling he still partakes behind the scenes. After all, leftists aren’t exactly known for self-control (ascetics they’re not). Thus do we have limousine liberals and now, maybe, just perhaps, chicken-hearted, chicken-chested, Chick-fil-A Fabians.
C’mon, libs, admit it: When you leave your protest, strip off the black mask, return to your momma’s basement and no one’s looking, you just love yourself some Chick-fil-A, don’t you?
Photo: Coast-to-Coast/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus
