Cues on Brand Loyalty You Can Take From Chick-fil-A

This flock of devotees can start getting in line on Tuesday, October 6, at 6 a.m. Clearly, these people love free chicken a lot more than sleep.

In a clear sign that there may be hope yet for urban America, the first free-standing Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in New York City on Saturday – and it was a huge hit.

Each new location of the Atlanta-based restaurant runs the promotion, called “First 100” in the days leading up to its opening.

The nation’s number-one fast food chicken chain, Chick-fil-A, may have originally hatched in Georgia, but soon it will roost on Long Island.

“This is like a Southerner’s dream in New York”, Grayson Stadler, a New Yorker by way of Burlington, N.C., said as she waited.

Chick-fil-A made headlines in 2012 when Dan Cathy, the chain’s CEO told an interviewer he did not support same sex marriage.

The comments set off calls for gay couples to have “kiss-ins” outside Chick-fil-A restaurants and prompted the mayors of Chicago and Denver to say they would not welcome any further development of the chain in their cities.

But there are already plans to open more restaurants in the area, which could mean chicken chain is poised to take a bite out of the Big Apple.

According to the trade publication QSR, the company’s annual sales per store are among the highest in the fast-food business – $3.1 million – even though Chick-fil-A outlets are not open on Sunday. “I think that it’s ignorance rather than people actually not caring”.

Chick-fil-A insists in its media fact sheet that it “does not have an opinion as an organization”.

Chick-fil-A has landed in New York – with much clucking and a mess of ruffled feathers. “We are excited about serving customers great food with remarkable service”.

He said the company also benefited from superior execution – in a few locations, 60 to 100 cars go through the drive-in lane in an hour – and the simplicity of its menu.

A complete list of rules can be found at www.chick-fil-a.com/locations/first-100.

Chick-fil-A issued a statement in relation to the NYC protest, saying: “Chick-fil-A is aware of demonstrators who gathered at our restaurant today”.

That was on no one’s mind in the line Saturday.