From Behind the Register to Owning a Chick-fil-A Franchise

#smallbiz #smallbusiness #franchise #chickfila

Find out more about owning a Chick-fil-A franchise from a Navy veteran and former nuclear engineer. Also, learn the importance of leadership.

 
 
 
 

[ThrivewithJesus]

Applied twice, turned down twice for the franchise and I know I have all that Chick -fil-A stands for ‘ sigh’ won’t stop applying until I succeed.

[southerngirlsociety]

Yea. I come from a military home and having worked for Disney no less... I originally considered making this a career and working my way up into working at the corporate office but I've definitely seen all I need to see. I'm impressed in many ways but I'm not as impressed as I thought I would be.

They really need to start interviewing for Team Lead and Trainer positions too... just because you're on the team and you know how to do all the positions does not mean you would do well in a "leadership role". They need to ensure that Team Leads are leaving friendships at the door and not allowing friendships to help decide each person's position for the day. NOBODY likes having to do bread (buns) and the shorter a person is, the more this is true, but if everyone is expected to rotate through this position then it's fair that everyone should have to do it once in a while, but NOBODY should have to do it all the time (it's a back breaking position - especially the shorter a person is) just because the Team Leader can't stand up to someone (in this case, a strong Latino gal who only ever wants to do morning biscuit making and secondary salad / grilled / mac & cheese for lunch...), OR the Team Leader is taking care of friends who are actually taller and more capable of doing the buns and bread, but don't want to so then the one person who's the shortest on the team ends up doing the buns and bread - EVERY time... because Team Leaders evidently don't get much training on what it means to step up and be the leader. They need actual classes with quizzes to prove retention of material and expectations that will be required. Team Lead is also tall enough to do bread and is actually quite good at it but ALWAYS chooses the easier position instead... (hardly true leadership if you ask me).

Team Leaders also need to be held accountable for crossing off a check sheet every shift of tasks given to various team members. If a team member is given Mac & Cheese, they should be expected to follow it all the way through from putting the MC in the pans, to then restocking the cart with a full set of thaw bags for the next person who's making it, to cleaning up their space and placing everything back where it goes. (Team Lead can clean if team member is needed elsewhere but this should be the only part that a person might not do. EVERYTHING else should be expected and that person should be held accountable if the task is not done correctly). There is far too much "winging it" or "playing it by ear" when people come in for the morning... to the point that some people automatically decide what they want to do and everyone else just has to work around them. This should NEVER happen. Everyone should walk in for the morning and assignments have already been written on a board or in some way noted. No team member should always find themselves picking up where someone else left off because the other person didn't like that part of their task... (cleaning the biscuit table, cleaning the eggs station, doing soup, cleaning up a major spill...). Team Leaders should have a plan when they walk in and they should be good at time management and team management. Yes, there will always be call in's and call out's and nonsense like that but you should ALWAYS have a basic plan of who does what for tasking in the morning.

There truly needs to be a Kitchen Coordinator that runs logistics and makes sure positions are being covered properly and fairly rather than decided based on friendships...

*** Fair Word of Warning - Definitely go to a store or location that has been either open for a while, or has been run by an operator who has run a store before... You can't begin to know the frustration of working at a newly opened location, especially if it's owned and operated by someone who's never worked a day in their life within the reality of what it the fast food business. It's one thing to jump in and get your picture taken doing a few dishes in the dish room or some other position most nobody enjoys doing, it's another thing to dig in and do the job for 8hrs a day, 4-5 days a week, for at least a couple months... THAT is when people will truly respect you - but it's also beneficial to the upper leadership to have had to truly jump in and cover a position for an entire day / week - you get a better understanding and gain a better perspective of what it is really like. Your team members will respect you much more highly as well and will be far more willing to help you when needed.