According to a recent Chick-fil-A analysis, Atlantans ate more Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches last year than residents of any other U.S. city.
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas nabbed the number two spot. Others who made the top 10 list include Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Los Angeles. In total, Chick-fil-A customers ate more than 300 million of the chain’s chicken sandwiches in 2016.
It’s extremely hard to become a franchise owner
Chick-fil-A receives about 60,000 franchise inquiries per year, the company tells CNBC Make It, and, of that batch, only 75 to 80 are selected. Thats an acceptance rate of less than 1 percent.
The owner and operator of this location, Oscar Fittipaldi, ran a Philadelphia-based Chick-fil-A for five years before being selected to open the first Manhattan-based franchise. Hes no longer affiliated with the Philly location, as Chick-fil-A prohibits most franchisees from opening multiple restaurants.
“I dont have a specific formula [for] why people are selected to become franchisees,” says Fittipaldi, who spent 21 years as a merchant marine and ship captain before changing careers. “But one of the things that I would look [for] typically is: character, chemistry and competency. We need to make sure that the Chick-fil-A franchisees, when they come to the organization, they have a perfect chemistry with our brand.
“Were very unique in what we do, so the selection process is quite challenging for everyone.”Oscar Fittipaldi, a former Argentine Navy Seal, is the owner of New Yorks first full-service Chick-fil-ASource: CNBC Make It
Any time a customer says, “Thank you,” employees are trained to say, “My pleasure.” The more mannerly response is meant to add an extra level of care and make the transaction seem more personal.
Mendoza, who has been saying “my pleasure” for the past seven years, says that its ingrained in her vocabulary now and has become her go-to response even outside of work.Rather than saying “youre welcome,” Chick-fil-A employees always say “my pleasure” Source: CNBC Make It
The waffle fries are actually the main attraction. Preparation, I learned, is simple: We throw them into a basket, fry them in canola oil for two minutes, shake the basket out to drain the oil and add sea salt.
Mendoza estimates that, each day, their restaurant goes through 30 to 40 cases, each of which contains six bags of fries.The waffle fries are cooked in canola oil Source: CNBC Make It
Download the complete database of Chick-Fil-A locations in the US
You can download the complete list of 2,837 Chick-Fil-A location data as an Excel file, along with geo-coded addresses, phone numbers and open hours from our data store.
As it turns out, some cities sling back more of these classic sammies than others. So who loves the holy grail of chicken sandwiches above all others? Fittingly, Atlanta, the birthplace of Chick-fil-A and its famed sandwich, ordered the most OG sandwiches in 2016.
Seeing as Chick-fil-A is about to discontinue its popular chicken salad sandwich on September 30th, we have a funny feeling a whole lot more original chicken sandwiches are in our future.
In addition to unveiling Atlanta as No. 1, Chick-fil-A shared a top 10 list of the cities that order the most original chicken sandwiches in a recent blog post. Out of the 10 locales, eight—no surprise there—hail from our neck of the woods.
If youre having a bad day, two pickles and a chicken filet blanketed between a bun can magically turn your day around. AKA, the Chick-fil-A original chicken sandwich.
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