Boycott dooms first UK Chick-fil-A

[SpitfireIX]

KFC is better anyway.

Lee's Famous Recipe (founded by Colonel Sanders's nephew) is the best fast food fried chicken, bar none. Unfortunately you don't have any out your way. And there are none near Niceville, Florida, where I'll be moving next year.

 

[Archie Gemmill Goal]

Just found out today that apparently they have a second location in the UK in Aviemore. Weird.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Krispy Creme has tried to make it in Canada twice now. "When the company first invaded Canada in 2001, excited customers waited in long lineups for a taste of its famed hot-glazed doughnuts." And then filed for bankruptcy in 2005. They had tried to take on Tim Horton's (qv) when it was still a Real Canadian company. The second try in 2016 seems to be a bit more successful.

Some of the story here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/krispy-creme-canadian-comeback-1.3675499

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

The Chicky Fillet folks seem to be doing OK here in TO -- https://dailyhive.com/toronto/chick-fil-a-line-ups-toronto-photos

We'll see what happens when the hype has passed.

 

[DuvalHMFIC]

I would have thought Canada would be a Dunkin' Donuts kinda place over KK. I went to Boston once and they had more Dunkin Donut's than Seattle has Starbucks. It was crazy.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I would have thought Canada would be a Dunkin' Donuts kinda place over KK. I went to Boston once and they had more Dunkin Donut's than Seattle has Starbucks. It was crazy.

The only thing I remember from a drive through Maine as a child (I was a passenger, not the driver) is the large number of Dunkin Doughnuts everywhere. Perhaps it's some weird Yankee thing? That was back in the early 80s.

 

[xjx388]

If I worried about the political/religious leanings of the owners of places I like I probably wouldn't go anywhere.

Chic-Fil-A is just a different kind of chicken sandwich. It's not a traditional crunch fried chicken, more like KFC original recipe than KFC/Church's crunchy. I like them better than any other fast food chicken sandwich available. They've been around since I was a kid. My wife worked her high school job there when I first met her. Back then, they had awesome cole slaw and chicken salad but I think they got rid of those. Preference in food is highly individual and all I can say is that around here, the lunch and dinner lines are ridiculously long but people wait in them. They are endlessly busy.

I know the family who owns all the Chic-Fil-A's here. They are not deeply religious. The store owners tend to be very different from the company owners.

 

[dudalb]

SOmeone mentioned IN and Out burgers.
I don't mind a biblical message stamped on the bottom of a paper cup.That is totally different then sort of forcing their opinions on you the way that CFA does.

 

[xjx388]

SOmeone mentioned IN and Out burgers.
I don't mind a biblical message stamped on the bottom of a paper cup.That is totally different then sort of forcing their opinions on you the way that CFA does.

How does CFA force their opinions on you, exactly? I've been there hundreds of times and I haven't felt that way at all. There is no overt religious messaging anywhere, nothing anti-LGBTQ. In-n-Out is much more up front as indicated by the printed religious messages on their packaging.

 

[Babbylonian]

I would have thought Canada would be a Dunkin' Donuts kinda place over KK. I went to Boston once and they had more Dunkin Donut's than Seattle has Starbucks. It was crazy.

The only thing I remember from a drive through Maine as a child (I was a passenger, not the driver) is the large number of Dunkin Doughnuts everywhere. Perhaps it's some weird Yankee thing? That was back in the early 80s.

It's because DD started in Quincy, MA and spread from there. Thus, the highest viral load is in New England.

 

[DuvalHMFIC]

^^^ I didn't know that, but it makes sense. Thanks Babbylonian.

 

[mgidm86]

How does CFA force their opinions on you, exactly? I've been there hundreds of times and I haven't felt that way at all. There is no overt religious messaging anywhere, nothing anti-LGBTQ. In-n-Out is much more up front as indicated by the printed religious messages on their packaging.

Aha! Now In N Out fans need to decide if their favorite burger chain is as bad as Chic-Fil-A (damn that is a pain to type). And where do you go (or stop) from there?

Although I've never been to a Chic-Fil-A I've never heard of them being religiously "overt" in any way, including the current controversy. They didn't advertise their views as far as I can remember. I could be wrong.

Like I and a few others have already said, I don't research every company to find out their political views. I also think it's okay that people don't always agree with me. Chic-Fil-A's current stances are not that big of a deal in my opinion.

I mean sheesh even Mother Teresa wasn't really "Mother Teresa", so how perfect should we expect each other to be?

 

[CORed]

Which has absolute zero to do with a business operating in England.

Hell, it doesn't protect them from a boycott in the US either. The owner has a right to his beliefs, but I also have a right not to do business with the owner if I don't like those beliefs or what he does to further those beliefs.

 

[theprestige]

Hell, it doesn't protect them from a boycott in the US either. The owner has a right to his beliefs, but I also have a right not to do business with the owner if I don't like those beliefs or what he does to further those beliefs.

CFA operates on a franchise model. The people you're doing business with are believing mostly in getting paid.

 

[CORed]

This concept came up recently at work. Someone had brought in Krispy Kreme doughnuts and everyone went mad for them, as they always do whenever those get brought in. I don't see what the wow factor is for these. They're not bad, especially when fresh, but they're not really any better than other local or chain offerings. And it's never some decent sort of variety doughnut like an apple fritter, maple bar, or jelly filled that people bring in. Just the plain old boring round lump of fried dough with a hole in the center. Yet people have somehow convinced themselves that they're better than sex, and are willing to go Thunderdome on each other to get one.

Well, if I want a glazed donut (something I rarely eat any more because I'm diabetic), I would much rather get one from Winchell's than from Crispy Kreme. Winchell's have some substance and a nice yeasty flavor. Crispy Kreme's seem to be mostly air and are too sweet.

 

[CORed]

I first encountered Krispy Kreme donuts in South Carolina, during basic training for the Army. Probably a gross of assorted dozens were supplied for breakfast every day. (Whether you were actually allowed to eat a donut at breakfast varied from training company to training company.)

Those donuts seemed amazing, fully living up to the hype. To this day, I can't tell you if it was because all calories seem amazing when you're in basic training, or some other reason. I didn't see Krispy Kreme again for several years, on the west coast. These donuts weren't anything like I remembered. They were smaller, blander, crappier in every respect. I don't know if misremembered the quality of the earlier donuts, of if the recipes changed, or what.

But my experience is that Krispy Kreme was great once, and is crap now.

It might have simply been that you wanted calories -- any calories -- when you were in basic. Hell when I used to backpack, I even found freeze dried backpacking food tasty. If anyone tried to serve that to me in a restaurant, I'd probably demand a refund.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Although I've never been to a Chic-Fil-A I've never heard of them being religiously "overt" in any way, including the current controversy. They didn't advertise their views as far as I can remember. I could be wrong.

I'm in the UK, don't really care about American fast food francises, and the only context I'd every heard of Chic-Fil-A until now is in regard of their religious views, they made it an issue when they wanted opt outs from covering family planning in their employee's health coverage and made the issue about how religious they were. I have no knowledge or interest about any other fast food chain because they haven't brought it into the public domain.

 

[Puppycow]

Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to anti-LGBTQ organizations

I guess that means I could eat there now with a clean conscience. (There's no Chick-fil-A near where I live in any case, so it's purely hypothetical for me.)

New York (CNN Business) Chick-fil-A is making major changes to its charitable foundation, ending donations to two organizations that have been criticized for being anti-LGBTQ.

The fast food chain announced Monday that beginning next year it will only donate to a certain group of charities. That list no longer includes the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Both organizations have taken controversial stands on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Going forward, Chick-fil-A said it will work exclusively with organizations that focus on education, homelessness and hunger. Those are Junior Achievement USA, Covenant House International and donating $25,000 local food banks.
"No organization will be excluded from future consideration — faith-based or non-faith-based," said Tim Tassopoulos, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A, in a statement.

Will that be enough, I wonder? Have the boycotters won?

 

[Venom]

I've cut down on fast food anyway.

 

[a_unique_person]

I won't eat at that establishment till they fix that atrocious spelling of their business name.