How Chick-fil-A Provides Exceptional Customer Service (With Examples)

Photo of a woman working at Chick-fil-A
 

By Tricia McKinnon

What does it take to generate more than $18 billion in sales? A combination of great food and excellent customer service, just ask Chick-fil-A. One of the keys to Chick-fil-A’s success is its customer service which landed it at the top spot on the American Customer Satisfaction Index for restaurants in 2023 for the ninth year in a row.

So what is Chick-fil-A doing that others are not? For one it empowers its employees to go above and beyond to serve their customers. Take this example. In 2019 a 96 year old WWII veteran entered a Chick-fil-A store in Maryland. The long-time customer was visibly shaken because he was driving to the restaurant and barely made it there because one of his tires was flat. After telling Chick-fil-A employees what happened Daryl Howard, a Manager, quickly sprang into action and began working on the veteran’s car. 15 minutes later the tire was changed, the customer was relieved and Chick-fil-A had yet another example of why it’s service is legendary.

A photo of a man changing a customer’s tire at Chick-fil-A restaurant

“We are grateful for Team Members like Daryl Howard who genuinely care about the customers and communities they serve, and for restaurant operators who create an environment where Team Members are empowered to go above-and-beyond to meet guests’ needs,” said Chick-fil-A in a statement.

That’s not Chick-fil-A’s only example of uncommonly good service. In 2019 outside of a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Virginia a customer, Shauna Hall, accidentally dropped her cell phone into a storm drain. The customer who was at the restaurant with her young child was distraught. A Chick-fil-A employee sprang into action again. After spending some time trying to retrieve the phone from above ground he decided to go into the manhole and grab the phone himself. Now how many employees are willing to go the distance like that? We have all had sales associates that are hesitant to even check the backroom to see if there are additional sizes in stock. Needless to say the customer was beside herself with gratitude.

A photo of a man standing in a manhole

"She was nearly in tears when she came in and she was asking for a manager to help," says Seth Ratliff, the Chick-fil A employee that retrieved Hall's phone from the manhole. "Compassion just took over and I just wanted to help," says Ratliff.  Chick-fil-A even paid for Hall’s meal while she waited for Ratliff to retrieve her phone. "I wasn't going to stop until I got her phone back. She was so upset seeing as her whole life was on that phone". "I'm a follower of Christ and I just wanted to do the right thing."

"I was so thankful I freaking hugged him," Hall said. "Not only did he slice his finger and was filthy from laying on the ground and climbing in the hole, I find out he had actually just gotten off shift and was still willing to help me." 

A Chick-fil-A employee in Texas held onto three dollars in change after a customer accidentally left it at the restaurant. For the next month the employee, Marcus Henderson, brought the money with him on every shift until one day the customer returned to the store and the employee gave him his money. "Typically, if they're close enough, I can make an attempt to run after them," said  Henderson. "But he was already down the street before I even realized he drove away." "There wasn't any peace in keeping it," he says. "This was the right decision." The customer, Danny Cadra, could not believe the level of customer service. "I was just floored," said Cadra. "I went a whole month not knowing there was a guy at Chick-fil-A who remembered me every day, that brought that money every single day until he saw me."

So how does a retailer get such dedicated employees? It often starts with the values of the company’s founder. Speaking about Chick-fil-A’s founder Truett Cathy, David Farmer, Chick-fil-A’s SVP of restaurant experience said that: “he didn't care so much about getting bigger. He was just obsessed with getting better. He would drill that into us: if you focus on getting better, bigger will take care of itself."  "There are all kinds of scenarios that pop up that you don't necessarily train for," says Farmer. "We try to teach the principles of what it is to care for somebody so that a team member can kind of act on their own when they see an opportunity."

Chick-fil-A operators are also expected to be hands on and are not allowed to have other jobs outside of the one they have at Chick-fil-A. They are also not allowed to operate more than one Chick-fil-A location. It is also extremely difficult to become a Chick-fil-A franchise operator. Chick-fil-A receives more than 40,000 applications per year but only grants around 75 - 80 new franchisees. With an acceptance rate of 0.19% it is harder to become be a Chick-fil-A operator than it is to get into Harvard which had an acceptance rate of 4.9% for the class of 2024.

Good employee behaviour starts at the top. Such a stringent selection process and the expectation that operators focus on just one location provides the foundation to instil the right customer service principles in employees.

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Tricia McKinnonCustomer ExperienceComment