I think that the Chick-Fil-A execs are pretty smart!
When the company first started, it was seen only in indoor shopping malls, and it was hugely popular!
But apparently the company execs foresaw the waning popularity of the indoor shopping mall and decided to build their restaurants outside of the malls. GOOD MOVE! Shopping malls all over the U.S. are closing, and many are being converted into churches, community recreation centers, indoor playgrounds, senior walking paths, abandoned monoliths that get rented out by haunted house purveyors at Halloween, etc.
No one shops at a Mall anymore, and teenagers don’t hang out there anymore, either (in our local giant indoor mall, there is a policy that kids under 16 must be accompanied by an adult in order to be in the Mall–talk about a business-wrecker!).
But more people than ever are eating at Chick-Fil-A! I believe the last survey showed it to be the most popular chicken restaurant in the U.S., beating out the venerable KFC!
My husband and I aren’t big fans. It’s not that we don’t like Chick-Fil-A, but the location in our city makes it kind of hard to get into and find a parking space. Also, it’s almost always packed, and we don’t want to wait too long in a “FAST food restaurant!” But we know people who don’t go to any other fast food place except Chick-Fil-A.