Chick-fil-A; a Georgia Experience?

Landed in Atlanta, after connecting through North Carolina. As expected, people here are pretty nice, though when you come from NJ/NY, everyone seems pretty nice. Of course, the best part was seeing my sister and my nephew (pictures to come).

Because I got in late in the afternoon/early evening, we didn't do much except go out and get some take-out. As you drive on the Interstates (75 and 85), there are some hilarious signs for Chick-fil-A (sic). If you haven't had one of their chicken breast or chicken salad sandwiches, you're missing one of the better fast food experiences. There seems to be only one I know of in the NJ/NY area and that's at Paramus Park. I never go to that mall anymore, so we got some dinner from there tonight.

With all the talk of being a BBQ fan and gourmand, it's kinda funny to making a post about a fast-food joint. However, I knew instinctively that it was originally a Georgia experience and found out I was correct. It started out at a restaurant called Dwarf House in Hapeville, GA, where workers from the now-defunct Ford plant grabbed a bite between shifts. No word on whether dwarfs where actually involved in the making of the original recipe. Today, it's a $3 billion industry, second in selling chicken only to KFC, further aggravating the historical tension between Georgia and Kentucky.

One of the thing that caught my eye was the sign saying that it was closed on Sundays. Interesting enough, this coincides with the fact that the only Chick-fil-A I know of in north Jersey is in Paramus, in a blue-law county. Turns out that the founder, S. Truett Cathy, is a devout Christian and said:

"Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and directing our attention to things more important than our business. If it took seven days to make a living with a restaurant, then we needed to be in some other line of work. Through the years, I have never wavered from that position."

 Pretty fascinating in this day and age to have a big, successful company make such a big decision based on something other than profit. In their package meals, they've included toys promoting church services instead the Happy Meal's movie-of-the-week. I gotta tell you, I'm not sure that I think an 'Avatar' glass is any less manipulative than whatever CFA has put out. They're even involved with VeggieTales, which I didn't know, is written with decidedly pro-Christian values. If I seem laudatory, let me point out that they've been the focus of a number of lawsuits, mostly discriminatory.

I think I'm going to have to go to the original Dwarf House on this trip, don't you? More to come.