Jane Kenney
It’s pretty common for most restaurants to be exceptionally customer service-friendly, more than retail or any other type of customer service job. Restaurant employees are trained to say and do certain things that show the customer they will go the extra mile just to make sure you’re satisfied with their services.
This is no different for the Chick-fil-A chain. Their employees will actually never say “you’re welcome” in response to a customer. Typically, they’re trained to say “my pleasure” due to company policy which is a huge part of their company culture and core values.
Chick-fil-A is known as one of the friendliest and most respectful restaurant chains in the U.S. A QSR Magazine’s annual drive-thru report confirmed that Chick-fil-A employees were the most likely of 15 chains surveyed to say “please” and “thank you” and smile at drive-thru customers.
This report further confirmed that about 95.2% of Chick-fil-A employees said “thank you” during drive-thru encounters. The report was based on almost 2,000 visits to 15 different restaurant chains in total. This amounts to the great success Chick-fil-A has received over the past years and why many customers prefer coming back to this restaurant over other chains like McDonald’s.
So, why does Chick-fil-A say “my pleasure”?
It has recently been discovered why Chick-fil-A utilizes the policy of using specific phrases like “my pleasure” instead of “you’re welcome”, and it has to do with the chain’s founder, Truett Cathy. He got the idea from staying at a Ritz Carlton, where he said “thank you” to a hotel employee and they replied with “my pleasure.”
Those two words alone made the company look like a well-rounded, luxury establishment that truly cares about offering the best service possible to their guests. That’s when Truett decided to bring that policy into his own establishments to achieve the same greatness.
A Chick-fil-A employee has confirmed via Reddit that while it is an unofficial part of company policy, and not even mentioned in the training videos, “It’s a courtesy thing. “You’re welcome” seems too indifferent and we’re told to use elevated language.”
While the behavior is technically ‘learned’, the same employee confirmed that they genuinely enjoy working at Chick-fil-A partially because of the people they work with. “Working there is legitimately satisfying. The hours are flexible, everyone is pretty nice, and we get treated fairly. One of my managers offered to pay for my $50 jacket. That’s how nice everyone is.” Hiring managers are clearly finding the right people!
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Check out the video below on Chick-fil-A’s customer service standards:
What do you think?