The tale of Chick-fil-A and the EPA chief

I've been partial to Chick-fil-A for a long time.

I like the sandwiches, yes, but I also like the friendly, polite and helpful attitudes of its employees, the fact that it closes on Sundays and its fairly generous scholarship program for its young workers.

A few years ago, after Dan Cathy, the president of Chic-fil-A, said he opposed same-sex marriage on religious grounds, gay rights groups called for a boycott of Chic-fil-A.

I disagreed with Cathy but had no intention to boycott his restaurants. I probably disagree with certain views of most every CEO in America. Anyway, the effort backfired. When customers showed their support for Cathy by lining up by the hundreds at their local Chic-fil-A, the short-lived boycott was effectively over.

A couple weeks ago I found another reason to like this chain: It's unwillingness to bend its franchise rules for a powerful politician.

Seems Scott Pruitt tried to get his wife a job at Chic-fil-A just three months after his appointment as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt had an aide arrange a call with the company's chief executive, then with someone from its legal department to discuss his wife's prospects as a franchise owner.

His wife, Marlyn, began to fill out an application for a franchise, but never completed it. Case closed, except for any legal problems he may face for his personal use of a government employee.

The thing is, according to a story in The Washington Post, it is really difficult to get a Chic-fil-A franchise.

The Georgia-based restaurant chain receives more than 40,000 inquiries every year from people interested in becoming restaurant operators.

After filling out an initial "expression of interest" online, they must complete a formal written application. From there the company conducts recorded live-video and in-person interviews, focusing a lot on business experience and leadership skills.

Once an applicant is approved, he or she technically becomes an operator, not a franchisee. He (or she) pays an initial $10,000 fee; after that the company pays all start-up costs, including real estate, construction and equipment. It owns the store; the operator is expected to work at the store.

Carrie Kurlander, a Chic-fil-A vice president, said the chain opens 100 to 115 restaurants a year, meaning only a handful of those 40,000 interested parties get in. (The Post reporter pointed out that Chic-fil-A is more exclusive than Harvard, which admitted 1,962 freshmen out of 42,799 applications.)

Chic-fil-A now has more than 2,200 restaurants in 47 states averaging $4 million in annual sales.

Jonathan Maze, executive editor of Restaurant Business, praised the rigorous selection process, saying it had helped make Chic-fil-A "the hottest big restaurant chain the U.S. right now" with more than $9 billion in revenue last year.

"It's not really the type of job where you would expect somebody to pull favors to get," Maze told the Post. "You still have to really, really like the restaurant business. That element is pretty shocking to be honest. Really it's not a cushy job."

I'm guessing Marlyn Pruitt came to that same conclusion.

Contact Bob Bestler at bestler6@tds.net.

This story was originally published June 22, 2018 at 10:17 AM with the headline "The tale of Chick-fil-A and the EPA chief."