Yesterday was a very exciting field trip for us. We went behind the scenes at Chick Fil-A!
If you’ve been to Chick Fil-A before, then I’m sure that you understand our excitement. If you haven’t, then let me fill you in a bit.
Chick Fil-A is a restaurant owned and operated by a Christian man, and he does his best to incorporate his beliefs into his business practices. His restaurants are closed on Sundays so that the employees can worship and rest, and the chicken always tastes great. It even gets very high ratings from nutritionists when compared to other fast food restaurants. Our kids love the nuggets, fruit, and milk combination, and we love knowing they’re eating a fairly healthy, quick meal!
Our tour began beside the counter. Each person donned badges and hats to ID us as guests.
First, we learned a bit of the company’s history, and it was fascinating. For instance, did you know that Truett Cathy, the founder of the company, is the one who:
- first invented the chicken sandwich?
- was the first to put a restaurant inside a mall? (What would we do without a food court?)
- helped Colonel Sanders nail down his famous original recipe for the chicken?
In the back we visited the walk-in freezer and learned about Chick Fil-A’s food policies. All food is prepped fresh each day – from the veggies on your salad to the dessert cookies and the lemons for the lemonade. Even the lemons are squeezed daily. The ice dream, too – it’s churned fresh each morning.
This woman has an incredibly difficult job. She’s breading the chicken with the special Chick Fil-A recipe – and since this location serves 2,000 people daily, she’ll spend hours at this task for the lunch rush alone. We learned that breading chicken is a very physically demanding job as she must lean over the tubs of ingredients, flipping and pushing and breading for hours at a time.
After our tour ended, lunch began. As the restaurant filled to booming during the lunch rush, these kids condensed themselves into one table. One employee even complimented them on how neat and kind the kids were being as they sat crammed into one booth.
Which is another reason we love this place. No matter where we went, we saw employees laughing, smiling, and joking with each other. They were just as polite behind the counter as they were in front of it. Their manners weren’t a front they put on for the customers – they were real.
There were too many of us – and too many other customers lovin’ Chick Fil-A – to get a complete group picture, but we did manage to get most of us in the landscaped area just outside the restaurant.
Our tour guide did a great job of sharing lots of information with us in a friendly and fun way. This just added to our usual great time.
These behind-the-scenes tours seem to be a new feature at Chick Fil-A. Stop in and ask about them – maybe you could learn their famous lemonade secrets, too!
Thanks, Brad, and everyone else at Chick Fil-A. We enjoyed our tour, learned lots, and had a delicious lunch!
