Chick-fil-A is a nationwide chain of fast-food restaurants specializing in chicken-based items (Harmon, 2017). Since its founding in 1946, the chain has stood out from its competition in a variety of ways: leaning on founder S. Truett Cathy’s Southern Baptist traditions, Chick-fil-A outlets are always closed on Sundays to allow employees a day of rest, time with their families, and/or time for religious worship. The Cathy family has always been forward and outspoken about its religious principles (Daily Herald, 2012), and it was perhaps what some may categorize as fundamentalist values that spurred Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy to make negative remarks about same-sex marriage in 2012 (Stafford, 2012).

These remarks, along with the revelation that Chick-fil-A had donated significant sums of money to not-for-profit groups actively opposed to same-sex marriage (Horovitz, 2014), led to a major outcry across the country, even in the West and Northeast markets in which it was not well known—and therefore had very goodwill currency built up—resulting in a 26-point drop in brand awareness in just 11 days (Stafford, 2012). The local governments of Boston and Chicago, along with universities like New York University and Northeastern, and other entities all led boycotts and other action against the chain (International Business Times, 2012).

Chick-fil-A’s PR reaction was just as controversial as the remarks that led to the controversy itself: rather than facing the controversy, resulting debate and widely polarized reaction head on, Chick-fil-A decided to simply post a statement on its Facebook page with language describing honor, dignity, and respect for all (regardless of sexual orientation, explicitly), and then withdrew itself from public engagement on the topic altogether (Stafford, 2012). While some applauded this strategy (among them Chick-fil-A’s marketing advisor of 30+ years), others viewed it as short-sighted and hampering of future growth goals.

Chick-fil-A is still largely a Southern institution, where its religious principles are well known, much lauded, and indeed, celebrated in the so-called “Bible Belt” (Horovitz, 2014). It has built up a bank account of goodwill and positive feeling, which it called upon to survive the scandal in the South. However, Chick-fil-A’s goal is national expansion: to that end, they invested heavily in the testing and rolling out of a grilled chicken line, and also conducted extensive testing and market research into the removal of high-fructose corn syrup from and the exclusive adoption of only antibiotic-free chicken in its recipes. Chick-fil-A has already edged out both KFC and McDonald’s in competitive sales, and its research and testing indicates that Chick-fil-A is taking no longer satisfied with its traditionally Baby Boomer audience, but is actively pursuing millennials, who espouse values surrounding healthy eating, local and ethical sourcing, and labor rights. Additionally, Chick-fil-A’s historic socially conservative agenda is not compatible with the markets it is seeking to expand into, namely the significantly more liberal markets of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. According to Boston University hospitality professor Christopher Muller, “The politics of their Southern Baptist values will not transcend their core markets” (Paragraph 11).

One can interpolate, therefore, that Chick-fil-A’s goal to expand nationally and break into markets unfriendly to its conservative ideals must be achieved by multi-pronged strategies, the objectives of which are to incorporate the more liberal values of its target market without necessarily sacrificing all of the ideals that led to the chain’s success in the South.

To this end, the following strategies were adopted:

1. Chick-fil-A ceased to donate to charitable groups active against same-sex marriage (Horovitz, 2014). The objective of this strategy was to distance the chain from its prior anti-LGBT stance to make it seem more attractive to the more liberal markets it is seeking to target.
2. CEO Dan Cathy has reversed his previous stance of hiding behind an ambiguous corporate statement, instead openly addressing his public change of heart (Horovitz, 2014). His statement, “All of us become more wise as time goes by… We sincerely care about all people” (Paragraph 5) speaks to a change both in his own public politics as well as a corporate about-face. Again, the objective of this strategy is to appeal to the chain’s more liberal markets; it is also worth noting that this is a classic crisis communication strategy: complete mortification, whereupon the entity concerned gains its audiences forgiveness by taking complete responsibility for its negative actions and apologizing completely and sincerely for its lapse (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).
3. Dan Cathy has also publicly co-opted his opposition: he and Shane Windmeyer, the executive director of Campus Pride, gay rights advocacy group, are now seen to be working together to overcome Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBT persona (Horovitz, 2014). This somewhat unlikely partnership will serve to appeal to exactly the liberal markets Chick-fil-A is targeting. This is also an established rebuilding and bolstering crisis response strategy (Coombs & Holladay, 2010).
4. Chick-fil-A is ramping up on its non-political, non-religious strengths, which are considerable: Chick-fil-A has long distinguished itself from its competitors with a focus on quality over quantity, which tradition it continues as evidenced by the aforementioned extensive research into ingredients and millennial-era commitments to ethical sourcing and healthy eating (Horovitz, 2014).
5. Chick-fil-A’s exemplary customer service is another non-political, non-religious strength that the chain is leveraging heavily: innovations such as walk-up attendants at drive-throughs, attentive table service, and a focus on courteous interaction (Taylor, 2016). This is a strength that will transcend Chick-fil-A’s core market.
6. Chick-fil-A has begun a rigorous social media and digital presence overhaul (India Retail News, 2016), in keeping with current market trends and the established relationship between Chick-fil-A customers and their own social media activities and influence (Kim, Kim & Reid, 2017). The chain is now using its digital channels—including mobile app—to disburse so-called “Easter Eggs” to customers, also known in the marketing industry as “surprise and delight” experiences, to increase customer engagement and goodwill with the company (Matthews, 2015).

Can the efficacy of Chick-fil-A’s public relations strategies be quantified or otherwise demonstrated? Considering that as of this year (and previous years as well), Chick-fil-A enjoys higher sales figures and restaurant earnings than McDonald’s (for example) (Daily Herald, 2018), it is perhaps likely that the chain’s PR strategies are indeed working to achieve its expansion and market share objectives and have proven appropriate for the brand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Chick-Fil-A Battles PR Nightmare Over Same-Sex Marriage Stance. (2012). International Business Times – US Ed. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbig&AN=edsbig.A297554303&site=eds-live&scope=site

Chick-fil-A makes another statement on giving controversy — but still no clarity. (Newspass:[_]). (2012). Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbig&AN=edsbig.A303074975&site=eds-live&scope=site

Chick-fil-A Launches Latest Innovation for Sharing Good-News Stories, Creating Localized Customer Experiences. (2016). India Retail News. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbig&AN=edsbig.A475043743&site=eds-live&scope=site

Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (Eds.). (2010). The handbook of crisis communication. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Harmon, A. (2017). Chick-fil-A. Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=121772759&site=eds-live&scope=site

Horovitz, B. (2014). Chick-fil-A offers a new public face. The Christian Century, (10), 19. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgbc&AN=edsgcl.371969727&site=eds-live&scope=site

Kim, K., Kim, J., & Reid, L. N. (2017). Experiencing motivational conflict on social media in a crisis situation: The case of the Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy. Computers in Human Behavior, 32. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.035

Matthews, S. (2015, May 6). Best practices: how brands can build loyalty with ‘surprise-and-delight’ efforts. AdAge. Retrieved from https://adage.com/article/digitalnext/brands-build-loyalty-surprise-delight-strategies/298425/

McDonald’s bets on “better chicken” Chicken: Chick-fil-A boasts higher per restaurant earnings than McDonald’s.(Business wirepass:[_]). (2018). Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbig&AN=edsbig.A527524517&site=eds-live&scope=site

Stafford, L. (2012). MARKETING: Handling PR: The debate on Chick-fil-A: Chain takes low-key stance in controversy. Experts disagree on how to tackle uproar over leader’s remarks. (Business). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, GA). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbig&AN=edsbig.A298646325&site=eds-live&scope=site

Taylor, K. (2016, October 3). Chick-fil-A is beating every competitor by training workers to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/chick-fil-a-is-the-most-polite-chain-2016-10