Video Transcript: Chick-Fil-A - Never On Sunday

Vicki Mabry - - Want to know where the in place is on Wednesdays these days,  one of the hottest spots, parking lots, more precisely, the asphalt outside, soon  to be open Chick fil A restaurants. You originally conceived as a way to attract  publicity in a new market, the lure is a free chicken sandwich meal once a week  for a year for the first 100 people through the door. So Wednesday mornings,  around 6am tents sprout up, and lounge chairs appear, and for the next 24  hours, there's a party with lots of dancing and games. Check out my crib. Come  on and plenty of time for just hanging out and see I got my nice little chair here.  How many times have you done a camp out  

Speaker 2 today? 41 we did a road trip from Norman. Me and another couple  

Vicki Mabry - you came from Oklahoma all the way to Dallas to camp out  overnight.  

Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't know what it is. We're just like, let's do that.  

Vicki Mabry - In the midst of all the action is a friendly, unassuming would you  like to take a tour, a little kitchen tour? Corporate Executive. My  

Dan Cathy - name is Dan Cathy. I like to say that I work in Customer Service at  Chick fil A.  

Vicki Mabry - Yep, that's Dan Cathy, the president of Chick fil A, a company  that's scheduled to open 70 new restaurants this year. Over the past couple of  years, Cathy has been to nearly 100 camp outs himself. Why do you still come  out here? I'm a  

Dan Cathy - party animal. I love it. I enjoy it.  

Vicki Mabry - for sure, some come for the chicken, but for most, celebrating on  Wednesday is a way to honor what the restaurants do. On Sunday, they're  closed. Come on down. Bring all your people. Sunday, we close to go to the  steeple.  

Speaker 4 Every employee knows ahead of time. Sunday is their day.  

Speaker 5 We like Chick fil A because they're very, very Christian people. They  don't work their employees on Sundays.  

Vicki Mabry - Where does it say Honor the Sabbath? Can you show me that  Honor the Sabbath? Exodus, chapter 20. College Student Justin Dardi found the

biblical reference behind this corporate policy fairly easily. Remember the  Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do no work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall do no work.  

Vicki Mabry - Yes, they follow the fourth commandment at Chick fil A but the  closed on Sunday. Rule actually started when Dan Cathy's father, Truett,  opened his first restaurant. So  

Dan Cathy - he was closed on Sunday that first day, first Sunday, and we've  been closed ever  

Vicki Mabry - since. So it started because your dad didn't want to work on  Sunday.  

Dan Cathy - No, he didn't. And he figured if he didn't like working on Sunday,  that other people didn't either. He said, I don't want to ask other people to do  that, which I'm not willing to do myself. Still,  

Vicki Mabry - most customers have no trouble believing that they're following  the fourth commandment our Heavenly Father, we just thank you for your  greatness simply because the business plan at Chick fil A includes a strong  spiritual component.  

Dan Cathy - The corporate purpose that Chick fil A has is something I would  want to put on my tombstone, and it says this, that we're here to glorify God by  being a faithful steward of all that's entrusted to us and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick fil A. We had sensed that God's divine  direction in the business, and we wanted to acknowledge that the Bible says  that, as Solomon says in Proverbs, that if you'll acknowledge me in all your  ways, I'll direct your paths. And we sense that God had direct our paths.  

Vicki Mabry - It's also a successful business plan. There are now 1600  restaurants with sales growing to about $3 billion this year. I know I got good  leadership. It's a tough place to get a job, though. How many interviews do  people have to go through to get to be an owner operator.  

Dan Cathy - It's kind of legendary. It said that it's easier to get a job with the CIA than it is with CFA. Last  

Vicki Mabry - year, 25,000 people applied to be owner operators. Only 100 were picked based on Cathy's three C's, competence, chemistry and character. Is  there a fourth C, Christian? 

Dan Cathy - Not at all. We know that Christian values, biblical values, are  important, but we found that it's not an issue of religious labels. We've got a  wide range of folks that that identify with these principles. They have a lot of  different religious preferences that are there.  

Vicki Mabry - So you can be any religion, but you're looking for people  

Dan Cathy - of they got to be honest. They got to be people of integrity. They  got to be passionate about what they're doing. And so we find that, you know,  some of those core values, you know, are common among people of all faiths.  

Vicki Mabry - The grand opening celebration shows no sign of winding down.  There's a happy birthday shout out. The usual celebrity responsibilities and  constant conversation.  

Speaker 6 We just appreciate what you do corporately, and we wanted our sons  to meet a really strong Christian businessman.  

Unknown Speaker Then there's the Dan Cathy sermon.  

Dan Cathy - How many have done this before? If you, if you've camped out  before, raise your hand. My goodness, a lot. A little bit of history. We opened a  small, little restaurant in 1946 called the dwarf Grill restaurant.  

Unknown Speaker A little bit of sales,  

Dan Cathy - by the way, you can purchase these pants are available on Chick fil a.com  

Vicki Mabry - and a little scripture, let me lead us in a word of prayer. If I could  adapted for late night, give  

Dan Cathy - thanks. And also, even while you're right in here, says, even while  you're camping out and it's 90 degrees at midnight, be thankful in all  circumstances  

Vicki Mabry - approaching midnight, Cathy squeezes in time for the life  perspectives Christian radio call in show  

Dan Cathy - give us wisdom, even at Chick fil A to know where to go, where to  grow, and where we should be, so that we might acknowledge you in all our 

ways in Jesus name Amen.  

Vicki Mabry - After a quick kitchen raid, Dan Cathy heads to the drive thru lane,  where there's a spot for the boss to pitch his own tent.  

Dan Cathy - I like the drive thru side because it's usually a little quieter,  

Vicki Mabry - not to mention that's where the company does 60% of its  business. After barely enough time to get comfortable on the concrete, Cathy is  back up with the trumpet. It's 6am and time for the grand finale. The first 100 get their chicken meals. And as soon as that parade is finished, the restaurant is  open, there's business to be done, because in the Chick fil A world, there are  only six days to get that business. If you go in a mall on Sunday and you see a  dark, shuttered Chick fil A and everything else open, do you think maybe  

Dan Cathy - I think, isn't that incredible? Isn't that neat? You know that we can  be closed on Sunday, you know that we're generating more business in six days than any of all these other tenants are generating seven, and we can be with our family.  

Speaker .1 Here's two small fries. That's the Chick fil A way providing  nourishment for the body as well as the soul. This is Vicki Mabry for Nightline in  Dallas.