2 NY Lawmakers attempt to force Chickfila to open Sunday

[storewanderer]

I sort of understand their reasoning. They can only target units in the service plazas.

But this should have been resolved before a lease was given to Chickfila.

https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/12/18/ ... utType=amp

I don't expect Chickfila to start to be open on Sunday in any case.

[HCal]

I think Chick-fil-A will give in sooner or later. Perhaps this bill will provide an excuse to do so.

At the end of the day, companies care about profits over morals. If I remember correctly, Walmart used to refuse to sell contraceptives for moral reasons, but some state passed a law requiring all pharmacies to sell it, and then Walmart just started selling it nationwide.

Imagine the money Chick-fil-A could make from the after-church crowd.

[storewanderer]

I think Chick-fil-A will give in sooner or later. Perhaps this bill will provide an excuse to do so.

At the end of the day, companies care about profits over morals. If I remember correctly, Walmart used to refuse to sell contraceptives for moral reasons, but some state passed a law requiring all pharmacies to sell it, and then Walmart just started selling it nationwide.

Imagine the money Chick-fil-A could make from the after-church crowd.

A big part of how they have attracted operators is due to this model of being closed Sunday. Start being open and it messes up the operator model. Sure, the operators who want to continue to take Sunday off could hire people and pay them to work Sunday, the sales would pay for it, but the thing is whenever the business is open, the operator is "on the line" and "on call." If the business is closed, far fewer potential issues may pop up that require the operator's immediate attention than if the unit is open. Also some of these units use Sunday to do various maintenance or repairs that would otherwise somewhat mess up business during regular business hours so there is also that.

If you read Truett Cathy's book you will better understand the importance of the being closed Sunday for the company. I do not expect them to change their position on this as long as the family is in control. I expect them to close these units before they agree to being open Sunday.

If this was an issue the state needed to not sign lease agreements with them in the first place. I have watched multiple colleges, airports, etc. not go forward with Chickfila due to the closed Sunday thing. It is not unusual for this to be raised as an issue.

Meanwhile these progressive politicians who somehow think they will save the world by attacking Chickfila being closed on Sunday will end up costing the taxpayers way more money by losing a productive tenant (rents are probably based on sales volume and Chickfila sells more in 6 days than any other chain would sell in 7 days) and having to re-tenant the spaces. Maybe they can get McDonalds to come back. I also think legally Chickfila could have recourse for damages from the state because they wouldn't have signed these leases had they been told they had to be open Sunday.

But at the same time I thought- what if your gas station operator at the service plaza said they would close Sunday. Would that be acceptable? Would that make sense for these service plazas to have such an important offering closed Sunday? I think that would be unacceptable. So along those lines I draw in the Chickfila issue. Is there other open food service on the sites (I think in every case there is). But I am still somewhat torn on what I think. What I don't like is the slimy attack on Chickfila after they have been issued leases and done the tenant improvements to open for business at these plazas.

[Romr123]

I wonder if there was some weasel-ing within the lease that implied (with Delaware North/HMS Host/...) as the franchisee of CFA that they would/could be open Sunday (as opposed to your friendly local CFA with Sophronia and Jack LLC as the one-store franchisee).

You're right in that the USP for the franchisee for CFA are basically two things---the 6 day model and the unusual business model (low buy-in high royalty). The counter to that is having both a breakfast plus a rest-of the-day model. (That was always the trade-off for a franchisee of CFA/Bojangles/Grandys in it's day versus KFC/Popeyes. Do you want to get up early 6 days, or sleep in 7 days (in a nutshell)

Having a corporate franchisee in a pooled-employee food court type situation (highway rest stop) kind of puts a wrinkle in that.

(I somehow doubt that employees of Delaware North/HMS etc are somehow segregated from cross-concept working---could be wrong, though---perhaps CFA has a stronger wall between them and other concepts than others).

[BillyGr]

The problem is, they are not targeting anyone who is currently in the plazas.
When the plazas were renovated recently, each of these businesses signed contracts (read that the one with Chick Fil A is for 33 years), so they can NOT change that now. Not sure why most of these stories seem to miss that part and make it look like they are trying to change a current contract!

The proposed bill would be to make any FUTURE contracts require operators be open 7 days a week - thus, unless this restaurant wanted to do that, they would be unable to be chosen again when their current contract expires(which sounds like 2050something), but would not force them to change or close now.

As Storewanderer correctly pointed out, there are at least 2 options in every plaza for food (the least I've heard is a plaza with Starbucks and a convenience store run by Applegreen), so there will still be something open at each location even on Sunday.
That's pretty much the same as those travelling at later hours, since each plaza has traditionally only had one food option that stays open 24/7, while others close by evening (sometimes by 8pm, maybe even a couple that were earlier). While in the past it was often the BK or McDonald's that was 24 hours, not always (the one plaza closest to where traffic enters from the Garden State/287 from NJ had Dunkin as their 24 hours rather than the BK also in that plaza).

There is only one fuel option per plaza, so that would definitely be a different story if they chose to not open on one day. They even manage to keep a small operation going while the plazas are renovated (designed only for emergency if someone is that low on fuel), where the food services are generally totally closed down.

[veteran+]

Slimy attack on Chick?

That's funny

I'm not a fan of society's demands for 24/7 "everything everywhere all at once" stuff. That demand comes with very expensive and deleterious costs to human beings, full stop!

But coddling religious organisations operating with the general public turns my stomach

[ClownLoach]

Slimy attack on Chick?

That's funny

I'm not a fan of society's demands for 24/7 "everything everywhere all at once" stuff. That demand comes with very expensive and deleterious costs to human beings, full stop!

But coddling religious organisations operating with the general public turns my stomach

I don't think Chick-fil-a is a religious organization anymore. In fact they are getting blasted by conservatives for their expanded Diversity and Inclusion hiring initiatives - they have added an entire D&I team within their corporate HR just like most growth focused companies. I expect that they will be changing that conservative religious image quietly and letting it rest with the founder who died a few years ago. They know there's more money to be made by welcoming all customers, even if they lose a few bigots in the process. A few years ago they were promoting a new operator on Instagram in SoCal and if you read carefully then you would see mention of his spouse who was male (it was edited out later). They used to have large bulletin boards that amounted to religious propaganda with quotes from the founder and such, they've been removed from all locations although some have chosen to keep a relatively plain poster with his picture that just says something to the effect of "closed on Sundays" as their founder always asked for. Most locations do have heavy duty cleaning done Sundays when closed as well as major equipment maintenance and repairs. They're not going to change the procedures and such. Remember that a lot of these businesses have decided to be closed to customers on Sundays in recent years but not closed to work anymore. Hobby Lobby also occasionally stocks and merchandises stores on Sundays (and was always open Sunday until about the year 2000 when they invented their new religious marketing image). In-N-Out still has Bible verses cited on their cups but they are open Sundays and I doubt that will ever change.

Also Chick-fil-a is very restrictive on the way employees are to be managed and would not allow say the cashier from the gas station to work a shift at the restaurant. All employees are heavily trained in expected behaviors and are directly observed and coached (or corrected) at least once per week. When regional management comes through they verify the supervision and coaching process is in order and if not they will terminate the relationship with the operator immediately. At my local one I see the operator is constantly having to run around and fill out the observation forms and then pull employees aside to review with them.

[storewanderer]

Slimy attack on Chick?

That's funny

I'm not a fan of society's demands for 24/7 "everything everywhere all at once" stuff. That demand comes with very expensive and deleterious costs to human beings, full stop!

But coddling religious organisations operating with the general public turns my stomach

I really don't know what my opinion is on the attack. I have high suspicion these specific politicians are attacking Chickfila because they want to attack Chickfila because they are stuck in whatever the image Chickfila had 10 years ago was which is not really reflective of its image today. It has nothing to do with the public (since other services are available at the plazas with food 7 days a week) need or whatever they say.

Another slimy angle is if some pro-business Republican politicians had proposed this rule. Perhaps their buddy/donor pro business Chickfila operators could have lobbied them to make this law so the operators could be open more and make more money. Again in the book Truett Cathy wrote he cites multiple examples of operators who wanted to be open Sunday and it was all about making more money and even a comment on how generous the Chickfila operator program is as far as operator compensation goes but that wasn't enough for some operators who always wanted more... or something along those lines... but the company held firm and would not allow it, some operators even opened without permission thinking they wouldn't get caught.

So I fall back and say- if this was really an issue that hurts the traveler's needs- it should have been dealt with before the lease was signed.

Another angle I was thinking is if perhaps Chickfila being closed is materially hurting traffic at these plazas on Sunday at large, which may be perceived as hurting traffic for the businesses that are open and some of them may be getting upset...

[veteran+]

Slimy attack on Chick?

That's funny

I'm not a fan of society's demands for 24/7 "everything everywhere all at once" stuff. That demand comes with very expensive and deleterious costs to human beings, full stop!

But coddling religious organisations operating with the general public turns my stomach

I don't think Chick-fil-a is a religious organization anymore. In fact they are getting blasted by conservatives for their expanded Diversity and Inclusion hiring initiatives - they have added an entire D&I team within their corporate HR just like most growth focused companies. I expect that they will be changing that conservative religious image quietly and letting it rest with the founder who died a few years ago. They know there's more money to be made by welcoming all customers, even if they lose a few bigots in the process. A few years ago they were promoting a new operator on Instagram in SoCal and if you read carefully then you would see mention of his spouse who was male (it was edited out later). They used to have large bulletin boards that amounted to religious propaganda with quotes from the founder and such, they've been removed from all locations although some have chosen to keep a relatively plain poster with his picture that just says something to the effect of "closed on Sundays" as their founder always asked for. Most locations do have heavy duty cleaning done Sundays when closed as well as major equipment maintenance and repairs. They're not going to change the procedures and such. Remember that a lot of these businesses have decided to be closed to customers on Sundays in recent years but not closed to work anymore. Hobby Lobby also occasionally stocks and merchandises stores on Sundays (and was always open Sunday until about the year 2000 when they invented their new religious marketing image). In-N-Out still has Bible verses cited on their cups but they are open Sundays and I doubt that will ever change.

Also Chick-fil-a is very restrictive on the way employees are to be managed and would not allow say the cashier from the gas station to work a shift at the restaurant. All employees are heavily trained in expected behaviors and are directly observed and coached (or corrected) at least once per week. When regional management comes through they verify the supervision and coaching process is in order and if not they will terminate the relationship with the operator immediately. At my local one I see the operator is constantly having to run around and fill out the observation forms and then pull employees aside to review with them.

If this is the current state of affairs at Chick................then I am thankful.