Chick-fil-A Enterprise Mannequin - FourWeekMBA

Chick-fil-A is an American fast-food restaurant chain that was based in 1946 by S. Truett Cathy. The company operates around 2,860 restaurants across the United States with roughly 33{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} positioned in Texas, Georgia, and Florida.

Chick-fil-A’s enterprise mannequin focuses on serving tasty meals in a clear restaurant with excellent customer support. The corporate additionally creates worth for the client with its worker recruitment and franchise practices.

Table of Contents

Franchise agreements

According to a Business Insider article, Chick-fil-A’s dominance within the aggressive American fast-food business is primarily right down to its distinctive franchise agreements.

Not like different corporations whose franchises might personal a whole bunch of eating places, Chick-fil-A franchisees can solely function one retailer.

This ensures that the franchisee offers with prospects instantly and is a member of the local people they serve. The corporate’s screening course of can be stringent, with just 0.4{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} of franchise applicants accepted.

Franchise homeowners are inspired to take part in group teams and occasions and are additionally answerable for worker recruitment.

This technique has enabled Chick-fil-A to ascertain a presence in native areas the place different corporations that open “faceless” franchises have struggled.

With just one retailer to handle, Chick-fil-A franchisees additionally take possession of their shops and work laborious to make sure they succeed.

Tasty fast-food

Chick-fil-A’s menu is much less diverse than some others within the business, however this permits the corporate to concentrate on cooking rooster effectively.

The method for making its signature rooster sandwich has not modified a lot since 1946 and, like McDonald’s, its menu objects are easy and straightforward to organize.

To keep up the standard and freshness for which it’s recognized, Chick-fil-A rooster doesn’t arrive on the restaurant pre-cooked or crumbed.

The corporate additionally makes use of boneless rooster items which prepare dinner sooner and allow staff to spend extra time with the client.

What’s extra, the corporate marinates its rooster in pickle brine to ship a novel and juicy texture that stands out from the competitors.

Clear eating places

A 2018 survey discovered that Chick-fil-A restaurants were some of the cleanest eateries in the country.

Employees are required to stick to a strict day by day guidelines to make sure requirements are maintained, and when shops expertise quieter intervals, staff are redirected to cleansing jobs as required.

Chick-fil-A makes a degree to maintain its loos clear – a standard sore level for patrons in eating places – and developed its “Secure Service” program to maintain diners secure and wholesome in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Customer support

Most corporations preach superior customer support, however comparatively few embody it in follow. After a survey of 20,000 customers, Chick-fil-A was voted as having the best customer service in the U.S. fast-food industry in 2021.

It was additionally ranked fifth general in over 160 classes amongst the likes of Disney and The Ritz-Carlton.

The corporate has developed numerous requirements to make sure customer support requirements are upheld throughout its franchises.

These embody small touches that aren’t sometimes current in a fast-food institution.

For instance, Chick-fil-A provides free meals, locations flowers on tables, and directs service employees to say “my pleasure” as an alternative of “you’re welcome”.

Recruitment and employees retention

Chick-fil-A will solely recruit staff who share its ardour for customer support. The corporate’s extraordinarily selective franchisee recruitment course of can final for twelve months or extra with candidates required to attend as many as 20 interviews.

Whereas this will appear exhaustive, it has enabled the corporate to retain extra of its employees in an business sometimes characterised by excessive turnover.

Chick-fil-A additionally invests closely in recruiting and retaining frontline employees. To course of the colossal quantity of functions it receives, Chick-fil-A has automated facets of the method comparable to interview scheduling the place candidates can choose a time that fits them.

As soon as employed, employees are provided profession development inside their restaurant along with a school scholarship program and group engagement alternatives.

Chick-fil-A vs. McDonald’s Franchising Mannequin

Whereas development in opening new areas is far slower compared to the quick tempo, gamers like McDonald’s, the main focus is on ensuring the shop would achieve success.

In reality, the preliminary charge requested from franchisees is manner decrease in comparison with McDonald’s ($10,000 vs. $45,000):

Whereas the entry charge is decrease, working Chick-fil-A franchisees should pay a 15{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} royalty charge.

As the corporate explains within the franchise disclosure doc as 15{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} of franchised restaurant gross sales, fewer quantities charged to franchisees for gear leases and enterprise providers charges, and 50{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} of web income.

Briefly, the Chick-fil-A franchising mannequin has the next options:

It doesn’t require a web value, in comparison with different franchising operations comparable to McDonald’s, because it’s the corporate that undertakes the bills to open up a brand new restaurant.
The franchising charge (entry charge) is simply $10,000, in comparison with, as an illustration, McDonald’s $45,000 charge.
Nonetheless, the franchisee has to pay 15{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} of the web gross sales and 50{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} of the web gross sales.
This is sensible because the franchisor and never the franchisee is the proprietor of the enterprise, the place the franchisee primarily operates the enterprise.
Subsequently, the Chick-fil-A franchising operations look extra like a sequence mannequin, whereas it skews its playbook to find the precise folks to function the enterprise. In reality, of the candidates, only a tiny percentage of these make it as much as turn into franchisees.

Key takeaways:

Chick-fil-A’s enterprise mannequin focuses on serving tasty meals in a clear and healthful restaurant with excellent customer support.
Chick-fil-A’s franchisee recruitment course of is exhaustive and stringent, with solely 0.5{f10ba277e26ee0da6e8a6380f29182ae775b609dba81c65fa54042a9e792c5ab} of functions profitable and people restricted to working one retailer. This ensures that franchisees are lively members of their local people and signify the corporate in probably the most favorable mild.
Chick-fil-A’s enterprise mannequin can be constructed on a easy menu of high quality rooster that doesn’t arrive pre-cooked or crumbed. The corporate’s easy menu objects are straightforward to organize which frees up extra time for workers to work together with prospects.

Learn Subsequent: Franchising Enterprise Mannequin