What I learned from Chick-fil-A's Andrew Cathy

I’m a relatively unscripted person. Sometimes to my own detriment. I had a supervisor once tell me I was two different people—the guy who sounds authoritative on the phone and the one in person (I assumed he meant the clueless version). But that’s just kind of how my nerves are wired. I don’t rehearse well, and that can leak out.

However, I did think about this a good deal last fall before sitting down with Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy. Naturally, we had prepped questions for a while over the weeks leading up to QSR Evolution in Atlanta. What was interesting about the process was I met Andrew only once. And of all the calls I had with Chick-fil-A, this was the one we discussed strategy the least.

After I droned on about logistics for a minute, he asked me a few personal questions. How I got to this point in my career. The type of things I liked doing. I remember realizing I had no true clue how this keynote would go. I knew it would be compelling, but would Andrew answer questions in 12 seconds or 12 minutes? Turns out, it was closer to the latter, and more than I could have hoped for, truly. It took one question to figure that out.

As I’ve admitted, this was the first time in my life I hosted a fireside. And what I learned goes back to the start: you can only plan so far.

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There was a time when Andrew started talking about reading his children books on the P&L. I couldn’t tell if he was kidding but I tossed a comment out about how my son gets to hear the same story about an owl every night. So, if we’re comparing notes, I might be setting my child up for a strange career. It was a lighthearted exchange and one I’ll always remember. It loosened me up a bit and we continued to get into the thick of how Chick-fil-A has become the third-highest earning restaurant chain in America despite being nowhere near as big as its relative peers (not to mention being closed on Sundays). More to come on that in early August with our QSR 50 report …

In all seriousness, though, the lasting note I took away was partly captured in the video below. Just like with reading your children books to open their minds to creativity or knowledge, or any way you support them as a parent to help them along in life, so much of Chick-fil-A’s success isn’t an operational puzzle as much as it’s about understanding the influence of leadership. I have asked a lot of people this question about how you get culture onto the front lines. It’s often some amalgam of training, accountability, compensation, and SOP. And I kind of assumed Andrew’s answer would follow the lines of talking about how vital friendliness and customer service have been to Chick-fil-A over the generations. But his answer was pretty granular—it’s the owner-operator selection.

A lot of brands have tried to copy Chick-fil-A’s single-unit system, but it’s often too slogging. And it doesn’t align with the bevy of larger, well-capitalized franchise organizations out there that comprise much of the industry’s growth. Most franchisors will tell you they’re looking for operators with foodservice experience, or a history in running restaurants. The old adage of, “I don’t want to teach you how to run a restaurant; I want to teach you how to run a (insert name of brand).” That makes all the sense in the world to me, especially in this margin-thin, high-risk universe of foodservice. Chick-fil-A is simply different.

Andrew spoke about trying to convince potential operators they don’t want to do this when he meets them. I once chatted with a recently selected operator who confirmed that was the case, and told me she had heard getting a Chick-fil-A was harder than getting into Harvard. In truth, it’s not even close. Harvard’s acceptance rate is 4 percent, per the U.S. Department of Education. Chick-fil-A in 2023 (as of that November) selected 94 local owner/operators. That was less than one half of 1 percent of the applicant pool.

Andrew said he levels with those applicants about the challenges and hours and tasks ahead. Anybody still ready to run through the wall afterward is the type of leader that’s going to endure.

So it’s a meticulous concept. And it’s one that Andrew trusts to nurture the type of brand Chick-fil-A is—because the store-level leaders have made it through the fire. It’s not necessarily a playbook page or book of processes (franchisors can only control so much); it’s about developing a thread of expectations that can then be executed by the right type of people.

What does this say about life? I’ve been a manager since about 2021 and just recently put together a full staff of people I hired. I can write all the mission statements I want in life. I did that about two years ago, to be honest. I would be surprised if anybody read it twice. Those are great to lay down expectations and have as reference points. But if you don’t trust employees to enact your principles, I’m not sure you can teach them to change their character. Selection and support are the building blocks of culture. That, to me, is the lesson of Chick-fil-A. They are a company whose secret weapon is not only consistency in product, but consistency in hospitality. And you’re never going to get there with processes alone.

All I know is, I’ve moved past the owl book into a story on a stegosaurus who says big words all the time (it’s as ridiculous as it sounds). But I’m going to read that book every night like I’m performing in front of the world.