When I think of innovative companies, I think about Apple, Target, HBO and Pixar. Oh, PIXAR. I can go on for ages about Pixar.
What doesn't come to mind right away is Chick-fil-A. Maybe because it's impossible to spell? Whatever the reason, let me
attempt to put that to right.
Warren Buffet has reportedly offered to buy the company outright several times over the last 10 years. He's no dummy: 41 consecutive years of positive sales growth. Chick-fil-A is a privately held chain of fast-food restaurants that has grown in 40 years to 1,400 restaurants in 37 states. Sales doubled from $1billion in 2000 to $2billion by 2006. What are they doing right? Hint: the president and COO, Dan Cathy, introduces himself as "I'm Dan. I work in customer service."
Customer service. Of course. Many companies profess to have built their entire companies, brick by brick (or byte by byte) on the premise of customer service. But the companies who walk the talk pay equal attention to the customer as well as the service associates who deliver the goods – through innovative hiring practices, incentives and internal communications that align front-line associates with an inspiring ethos or set of values. Chick-fil-A does this. Here's how:
1. Be choosy: Chick-fil-A is notoriously picky about the
franchisees it works with. It only awards franchises to 5% of all of
its applicants and the selection process can take a year. Chick-fil-A
knows that restaurant franchise owners set the tone for the entire
service experience - it's a piece of the puzzle they only have 1 chance
of getting right, for every restaurant they open.
2. Go deep: Chick-fil-A is a mission-driven organization. The Cathy family founded the company and comprises much of the (socially conservative) management team. Its corporate mission statement: "to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." This goes beyond turning a profit or being a successful company. As the Gen Y workforce looks for deeper reasons to work beyond personal wealth or stability, missions such as these resonate.
3. Put customers to work: Chick-fil-A has a healthy understanding of what they can do and what their customers can do better. After investing in a Chick-fil-A run Facebook page, it discovered a fan-created Facebook page that attracted just as many users. So it joined the 2 pages, dropped all corporate Facebook efforts and asked the original Facebook page administrator to take over and ask for help when needed.
Lots of unique conditions here enable some great stuff: its family-owned heritage makes a heartfelt mission and transparency of values appropriate. How might a different kind of company (a larger or global company, for example) learn from Chick-fil-A's successes?
*thanks to Hailey, Holly, Beth and team for inspiring this unlikely post.
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