Running head: CHICK-FIL-A

An Insight on Chick-fil-A’s Management and Business

Bradley Howells

Abigail Frech

Fadehan Kolawole

Olivia Lange

Seton Hill University

Principles of Management

Professor Debra Mason

April 25, 2017

Author Note

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Bradley Howells; email:

b.howells@setonhill.edu; Abigail Frech; email: a.frech@setonhill.edu; Fadehan Kolawole;

email: f.kolawole@setonhill.edu; and Olivia Lange; email: o.lange@setonhill.edu

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Abstract

Behind each successful business, effective management is key for the responsibility of

maintaining daily victories which set the standard for the company’s future. Through the

managerial study of the fast-food restaurant chain, Chick-Fil-A, the company uniquely related to

the basic principles of management in various ways. The way this company plans, organizes,

leads, and controls each restaurant has resulted in the tremendous success of selling fast-food

chicken sandwiches, a dream aspired by a small town young man in the early 1960s. After

introducing history and mission of the family and religious-oriented company, operations

including strategic partners, main competitors, products, a SWOT analysis, and the key

principles of management have been analyzed to determine that Chick-Fil-A actively presents

effective management skills, according to the principles of management, which results in the

overall success of the well-known company.

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On May 23, 1946, twenty-five-year-old S. Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant diner,

The Dwarf Grill, with his younger brother, Ben, in Hapeville, Georgia. The fifty-foot wide and

one-hundred-fifty-foot deep restaurant got its name by its size, the only structure the two

brothers were able to afford due to their limited finances (Press, 2014). At the end of their first

business day, they earned a profit totaling $58.20. Many of their first customers repeated

themselves, mainly being employees of the nearby Ford plant and Atlanta airport. In 1949, Ben

died in a plane crash, leaving Truett alone in running and operating the entrepreneurial business.

Word of mouth began to spread in regards to the diner, and business began to quickly pick up. In

1951, Truett opened his second restaurant in nearby Forest Park, Georgia, and it did not take

long before the two restaurants began to prosper for the next several years. In 1960, the Forest

Park restaurant burnt to the ground, and Cathy was unsure about the future of his business.

Rather than step back to only one restaurant, which would result in unemployment for several

employees, or go into debt by rebuilding the same restaurant, he decided to try something

completely new. Cathy soon became aware of the growing idea of fast-food restaurants, so he

decided to open one in Forest Park based off of the Li’l Abner restaurant concept out of Chicago,

Illinois. This did not sit well with his customers since many were sensitive about this change, and

many preferred the original Dwarf Grill, later renamed the Dwarf House (Chick-fil-A Inc.).

Before long, Cathy began to experiment in his kitchen different ways and methods of

quickly cooking and serving poultry because, “Jim and Hall Goode, owners of Atlanta-based

Goode Brothers Poultry, offered boneless, skinless chicken breast remaining from a process they

followed to provide small pieces of chicken breast to an airline. Cathy had been considering

adding chicken to the menu at his Dwarf Grill restaurant, so he accepted the Goodes’ shipment

and began experimenting with ways to cook the chicken” (Fulton, 2015.). Starting with a breast
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fillet, Cathy fried it and put it on a bun so the grease would not stick to the customers’ fingers.

After several tries of perfecting it according it to his standards, these sandwiches began

outselling hamburgers on the Dwarf House menu. After deciding in 1963 to name the product for

it to be marketed, he knew this would be a success. After careful, precise planning with an

attorney, Cathy had an idea for a new restaurant name: Chick-fil-A; working with the dictionary

words “chicken” and “fillet” while incorporating the letter “A” to represent the best and/or

highest quality. Informed by his attorney, those words would be allowed as long as he purposely

misspelled them as a way of altering those terms from their standard dictionary usage (Chick-fil-

A Inc.). By 1967, Cathy had personally founded and opened the very first Chick-fil-A restaurant

in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Shopping Center, the one that began the successful billion-dollar

franchise restaurant that continues to thrive to this day, due to the fact that,  “today, Chick-fil-A

has the highest same-store sales and is the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the

United States based on annual system-wide sales” (History). Chick-fil-A proudly states their

corporate purpose for all to admire: “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is

entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A”

(“Who We Are”).

Chick-fil-A’s main product and number one selling entree is the classic, original Chick-

fil-A chicken sandwich. Starting with a boneless, skinless chicken breast fillet, Cathy “began

serving it fried on a bun, which eliminated the problem of customers getting grease on their

fingers. This was the prototypical Chick-fil-A sandwich, and Cathy began to perfect it with

different cooking methods (eventually he settled on a pressure cooker with peanut oil), and

different spices and seasonings--including the addition of a pickle to the sandwich, which would

become a lasting part of the Chick-fil-A formula” (Chick-fil-A Inc.). He got the idea of the
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pressure cooker from remembering how his mother cooked chicken when he was young (Fulton,

2015). After beginning the recipe for the chicken sandwich in the early 1960s, it was not until

four years later that the final recipe was finalized because Cathy was determined to make it

perfect, continuously changing ingredients and experimenting with each one. The final recipe

includes twenty ingredients that make up the breading and seasoning alone (Fulton, 2015). One

finishing touch he decided to include was two slices of dill pickle, and his customers fell in love

(Chick-fil-A Inc.). This is the moment Cathy knew he was finished, and he was the creator of the

chicken sandwich. The wrapping paper of each sandwich states a trademark, “We Didn’t Invent

The Chicken, Just The Chicken Sandwich,” and this is true. To this day, the entire recipe is a

secret, but the company slightly explains how their classic sandwich is made fresh on a daily

basis. Chick-fil-A uses real boneless, skinless, hand-crafted chicken breasts without any added

hormones or fillers, the ingredient they are best known for, dips them in egg and a milk-wash,

hand-breads them, and cooks them in a pressure cooker for roughly four minutes with one-

hundred percent refined peanut oil. Each breast goes on a fresh, buttered, homemade, toasted bun

with two slices of pickle that begin with soaking cucumber slices for three days (Hendrix, 2015).

Waffle fries are a second key product Chick-fil-A sells. Rather than the traditional french fry,

this is something that sets Chick-fil-A aside from other fast-food chains, making them the go-to

for Waffle Potatoes Fries. Also, Chick-fil-A has stuck to their original recipe for the waffle fries,

never changing it like other fast food competitors (Bhasin, 2012). Using fresh, Pacific Northwest

potatoes, Chick-fil-A partners with family owned farms that grow their potatoes in nutrient and

mineral rich soil so they ensure only the best potatoes turn into traditional Waffle Potatoes Fries

(Great Food).
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Chick-fil-A started as a small-town restaurant owned and operated by one person, Truett

Cathy. However, over the years, Chick-fil-A has expanded into a huge franchise with over 2,000

locations in the United States and a market in Canada. In order to manage and control the

franchise, Chick-fil-A utilizes a top down approach (MacKenzie, 2016). “They have a vast

corporate structure including a president, vice president, CEO, CFO, Chief Marketing Officer,

President of Operations, People, and Field Operations. Under each of the executives are many

more employees that work for the executives” (MacKenzie, 2016). This type of organization

follows a centralized process of making decisions, that is decisions are made from the top down

to lower levels (Doss, 2011). For instance, Chick-fil-A is known for incorporating and upholding

Christian ideals in the workplace. As in formalization, these Christian principles are set by the

top levels as rules and regulations that employees are expected to follow.

In addition to the top-down approach, Chick-fil-A’s hierarchical structure is designated as

a flat structure. However, since the company has expanded into a huge franchise across the

United States, it has been gradually transforming into a tall structural organization.  The initial

flat structure of the organization structure allows the distribution of power and responsibility

between the managers in each division to better suit the environmental forces as well as aid in

the size of the company (Griffin, 2016). The managers of Chick-fil-A utilize a

departmentalization approach to delegate the authority within the organization.

Departmentalization is defined as the process of grouping jobs according to a logical

arrangement (Griffin, 2016). In other words, Chick-fil-A’s higher level

management allocates the tasks necessary in the business as specific job groups by similar

activities also known as functional departmentalization. In this approach, each department will

be staffed with expertise in and the coordination between each department is facilitated. Chick-
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fil-A has a hired Chief Marketing Officer and a President of Operations as well as other specific

titles that are tailored to that specific functional department.  According to Doss, in Chick-fil-A’s

organization, “...employee[s] [are] grouped by what they do and each group has a specific

function but employees can be used to fill multiple roles” (Doss, 2011). Employees at each

location are trained to fulfill and perform numerous tasks that allow the business to thrive.

However, the mechanistic approach is also followed by the business in that each job has a clear

and set description for every employee and they are reluctant to change in attempts to keep the

company as close to the founder’s wishes as possible. Departmentalization gives Chick-fil-A an

advantage over competitors by allowing the business to adapt to any internal or external

variables.  

As a major fast food chain in the United States, Chick-fil-A has acquired a few suppliers

over the years to aid in increasing and expanding the business. For instance, Chick-fil-A has

teamed up with Coke to distribute Coke products alongside the chicken sandwiches and

selections they have to offer. Chick-fil-A’s partnership with Coke has permitted the organization

to sell products such as drinks to consumers in the task environment of Chick-fil-A. Also, Chick-

fil-A purchases the chicken from Wayne Farms LLC (Doss, 2011). A strategic partner, also

known as a strategic ally, is partnering or working together with one or more organizations in a

joint venture or arrangement (Griffin, 2016).  To this date, Chick-fil-A has no known strategic

partnerships with other organizations or businesses.

Competitors are defined as other organizations that compete with an organization for

resources, such as customers and profit. The organizations that compete with Chick-fil-A are

other fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s and KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Even though

the competition may offer more of a variety of choices (rather than just a menu with chicken),
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Chick-fil-A remains in the competition mainly from the holistic views and standings. Chick-fil-

A’s main goal is to “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and

to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A” (Chick-fil-A Inc.).

Chick-fil-A is notorious for closing their locations all day on Sundays, believing that Sundays

should be reserved for worship and family time as well as closing on Thanksgiving and

Christmas (Doss, 2011). This, of course, is a disadvantage in Chick-fil-A’s availability for its

consumers and loses possible profits when people are more likely to chose the competition such

as McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken on Sundays. Yet, consumer recognize Chick-fil-A’s

dedication to their ideals and to their consumers so the business continues to thrive amongst the

competition. When the customers sees the company strong in faith, they will gain faith in that

company.

When one takes a close look at Chick-fil-A, they will notice that Chick-fil-A has quite a

lot of strengths and a close to equal amounts of weaknesses. One of Chick-fil-A’s major

strengths is their bond with the community. Chick-fil-A forms its bond with the community by

reaching out and believing that their company should be about more than just selling chicken.

The restaurant continues to establish this strength as they continue to donate of $68 million to

charities. By continuing to reach out into the community the company forms a bond that cause

the community to feel a loyalty towards the company. Not only does it form loyalty but it also

forms a positive image for the restaurant making individuals want to choose the restaurant a little

more.

Another strength that the company has is that it offers a healthier menu option when

compared to it’s competions. In a world that is focusing on how to be healthier Chick-fil-A has

the advantage based on its “healthy” menu choices. By offering healthier choices it causes
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customers to feel like it is ok to eat at the restaurant frequently because the meals are “healthy”.

The last major strength that is observed is Chick-fil-A’s strong uphold on its culture and

traditions. Chick-fil-A refuses to open on sundays based on a tradition and culture that has been

set by its founder and head executives. This demonstrates Chick-fil-A’s dedication and resolve.

It forms an image that the restaurant has standards towards the way it works allowing it to seem

as a higher standard restaurant when compared to its competitions.

While the restaurant does have really strong strengths it also has weaknesses that may

need improvements. One of its weaknesses happens to be that they tend to use a form of false

advertisement. While they are not exactly preaching false lies they tend to use terminology to

influence their customers to believe their meals are healthier and etc. Another weakness happens

to be that Chick-fil-A’s menu is more expensive than its competitions. This is a weakness

because when people are looking for cheap places to get food chick fil a won’t be seen as a first

option choice.

Even though Chick-fil-A’s tradition of not opening on Sundays happens to be a strength,

it can easily become a weakness. This is possible because it is believed that them not opening on

sundays does not allow them to make the most possible profit that could be obtained by being

open all week.  The last major weakness that was observed about chick fil a is that it has been

known to publicly stand against LGBT. this is seen as a weakness because by being affiliated

with the idea of standing against LGBT makes the company seem as if it is discriminating

against a type of people. This means that they are put at the risk of losing customers because of

the formed image of be discriminating towards a minority. Although some of these weaknesses

may seem minor if not taken care of correctly they can become quite big problems for the

company and may even eventually become threats towards the company as a whole.
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Chick-fil-A, as a company, exhibits both opportunities and threats in the business world,

something that is evident when the company is looked at under a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands

for: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. When analyzed through SWOT, a

company’s positive and negative impacts can be identified.

To start, the opportunities, or the internal and external positives of Chick-fil-A must be

identified. Chick-fil-A, commonly known for their advocacy to “eat more chicken”, offers an

alternative to red meat focused restaurants. Internally, employees are well treated and offer their

hospitality to their customers, giving a strong corporate culture. The company can bring

communities together for Family Nights, fundraisers, or birthday parties. Not only does the fast-

food restaurant nurture a family-friendly environment, the company has given over $68 million

to more than 700 charities (Supporting Youth and Education).

The company’s external positives include franchising across the nation. Some locations

of franchise include college campuses, even locally to Pittsburgh, including schools like

Duquesne University (Proposed Chick-fil-A...). Further expanding their presence, Chick-fil-A is

increasing in their international occupancy. Lastly, they have an expansion of the menu through

different items and sizes, giving them an edge over other chains.

For the company’s internal and external negatives, the weaknesses and threats of the

company are analyzed. Internal struggles for Chick-fil-A include their high calorie foods, which

are still considered fast food, and the unhealthy impact it can have on consumer’s diets. In

addition, cost-cutting practices may have a negative effect on the customer (such as reuse of oil).

Although the company is successful, they are still more expensive than their competitors such as

McDonald’s or Burger King’s fast food restaurants. The strong religious culture, although
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admired by some customers, can deter others and alienate specific customers. This can be

especially evident within the controversy of funding anti-LGBT organizations.

Externally, the company is presented with similar threats. In June 2012, the COO made

anti-LGBT comments (Severson). This conflict and protests following it against the company

may bring unwanted, negative attention and decrease profits and customer support. Avian flu, a

chicken disease, also presented itself as a threat to the chicken the company sells. If a supplier to

the company were infected, capital can be lost in the recovery of the damage. Rising costs in

foods used can also prose a threat to the company.

What started out as a small restaurant diner in Hapeville, Georgia has evolved into a well-

known option in the fast-food industry. Chick-fil-A has bloomed into a huge franchise that is

ever-expanding in the United States and Canada and will eventually branch out into more foreign

markets. Even as the organization continues to grow, Truett Cathy’s ideals are upheld and

followed as close as possible.  Cathy once said, “Companies that create lofty goals lose sight of

their core values” (Doss, 2011). By implementing Cathy’s original values in the day-to-day

operations, the business and the consumers are reminded of the importance of staying true and

together as one. “Closing on Sunday is a practice established by our Founder Truett Cathy that

we still hold true to today. It’s not about being closed. It’s about how we use that time. So while

we’re off today, we hope you can be with your family and friends. That’s the thought behind

each Sunday story-delivering recipes, activities, and inspiration that might bring you a little

closer together” (Chick-fil-A Inc.).

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Chicken Sandwich. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://thechickenwire.chick-fil-

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Sandwich

Bhasin, K. (2012, August 09). The True Marketing Power Of Chick-fil-A's Waffle Fries. Retrieved

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waffle-fries-2012-8.

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http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/chick-fil-a-inc-history/.

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