 Chick-fil-A is a nearly $3 billion company that is arguably one of the best-run in the restaurant business, with average unit sales that are well above most of its rivals. Yet the Atlanta-based chain of some 1,400 restaurants does share one thing in common with other fast-food chains: each and every day, it places its fortunes squarely in the hands of tens of thousands of 16- to 23-year-olds.
And it used to tear up senior managers at the company to watch these young employees arrive at work with their uniform in a gym bag, then change in the restroom.
“Several years ago, we surveyed thousands of our team members, and uniforms were in the top three factors of dissatisfaction for our team,” says Woody Faulk, Chick-fil-A’s vice president for brand development.
“We were using a uniform that was generic and unisex,” says Purchasing Supervisor Brenda Dixon, also part of the team that made the uniform decision for Chick-fil-A. “It didn’t really speak to the retail team members.”
With employee turnover costs sky-high for the fast-food industry, Faulk adds, “if we can keep our associates on the payroll for even one more month, the savings are tremendous.”
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