Service Untitled

I’ve written about Chick-fil-A before (twice positive and once negative) and how they do things differently than a lot of fast food restaurants. The other day I was Christmas shopping at the mall and got Chick-fil-A for lunch. Given the fact it was a few days before Christmas, the mall was absolutely packed and Chick-fil-A was no exception. Chick-fil-A was good at handling the influx of people, but that wasn’t what was notable about the experience.

What was interesting is that Chick-fil-A sent one of their employees around asking people with Chick-fil-A cups if they wanted refills or needed more sauces or anything like that. If someone said they wanted a refill, he took their cup and came back with their refill a few minutes later. If a person didn’t need anything, he wished them a happy holiday and thanked them for their business.

This isn’t something I have ever seen at a mall before. I’ve seen people walk around Chick-fil-A’s standalone restaurants and ask people how their meal is and if they need anything, but I’ve never noticed that in a mall setting, especially when it is as busy as it was when I was there.

My guess is that the particular location had an extra person who came in (and/or not enough room to get the people who were there to be productive) and the manager said to go around and see if people needed anything. Sending someone around accomplishes a few things:

• People get their refills without having to wait in line (customer satisfaction bonus as well as less congestion at the actual store).
• The store gets to use an employee who otherwise might not contribute very much during his or her shift.
• Customers have the opportunity to be impressed, wowed, etc. by the fact a fast food restaurant is sending people around a mall’s food court and asking if they want refills.

All and all, this was a win-win for Chick-fil-A and a good idea.