(Quick Drive thru update: As of tonight we are ranked 132 in the chain with our drive thru goal! Are you kidding me!!? This is so exciting! When I used to play soccer 50 years ago my coach used to encourage us after we scored a goal by yelling, ‘Give me 5 hard minutes!’ He would say this because the tendency would be to slack off a little after pulling ahead in the game rather than keeping up the intensity. So I’m asking you now, ‘Give me 5 hard minutes!!! Keep it up guys. Just 32 more spots to reach top 100. We can do it!)

And now the blog:

For those of you who have interviewed fairly recently with us you are familiar with this question. We always ask our perspective team members this question during the second interview. And this is the question I’ve been asking myself over the past number of months. What attracts you personally to Chick-fil-A?

We get a number of responses from this, but I just got finished telling my wife that I bet about 99.99% of the responses revolve around our great treatment of our employees or our incredible customer service. And while I think this is absolutely accurate from an outsiders perspective I’m a little skeptical at how we actually follow through with this assumption. Don’t get me wrong. I think Renaissance Village is absolutely one of the best places to work in the Triangle. We put an incredible amount of energy in hiring and training the best people, and we strive with blood, sweat, and tears to make this a great place to eat and relax for our customers.  But I’ve become increasingly convicted about what we are intentionally doing to continue making our restaurant an attractive place to work and eat now and in the future. I mean, is this sort of reputation something that just happens arbitrarily? Or are there systems in place to actually continue making our restaurant a comfortable home to some of the most talented team members and loyal guests in the area?

These are the thoughts that I’m having about the business right now. I personally desire each one of you to feel comfortable and challenged at work. I want you to have fun. And I think the result of that morale will translate into great customer satisfaction. But I’ll be honest. I think I’ve missed the mark on a number of occasions to build this culture such that everyone is excited to come to work and truly happy to dine with us.

So here is what I want to do. I know it is the middle of June but in the business world we’re already thinking about the third and fourth quarters of the year. The 3rd quarter begins in July and ends on September 30th. My goal for us all is to sit back after that last Saturday in September with confidence that we’ve done our very best in intentionally creating a working environment that truly makes Chick-fil-A Renaissance Village a great place to work. One of the results I’m looking for is for your friends to look at our business and ask, ‘Wow, how can I be a part of that business? It seems like you guys work really hard and have an amazing time doing it.’

Is that something you all would like to be a part of? I sure hope so! We as a leadership team have some more specific plans to aid in ensuring our restaurant continues to be the best place to work in the triangle. And we’ll definitely need all hands on deck to get us there. So stay tuned in the coming months. We’re excited to continue our success together as a team and I’m just flat honored to be a part of this story with you all.