Podcast episode
Episode 400 – How Chick-fil-A Plans to Feed the Future | David Farmer
Host Justin Forman sits down with David Farmer, Vice President of Innovation and New Ventures at Chick-fil-A. Together they look at how a company grows for 80 years without losing the things that make it what it is. The first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in 1967. It was about 350 square feet inside an Atlanta mall, with room for roughly six seats. Today some Chick-fil-A operators move 500 cars through a single drive-through, which means a customer leaves with food every seven and a half seconds.
EPISODE NOTES
The first Chick-fil-A fit about six seats inside an Atlanta mall. Today, some operators move 500 cars an hour through one drive-through. David Farmer, Vice President of Innovation and New Ventures at Chick-fil-A, sits down with Justin Forman to explain how that happened without losing the personal, caring service people expect.
David traces Chick-fil-A’s innovation back to founder Truett Cathy. Truett deboned a chicken breast to turn tables faster, pioneered food in the mall, and built an operator model with a $10,000 refundable deposit and a 50/50 profit split. From there, the conversation covers Dan Cathy’s rogue lemonade recipe, the bottleneck that led to one juicing facility in California, the race from 100 cars an hour to 500, and the three-legged stool every new idea has to stand on.
For founders trying to grow without drifting, David offers a simple principle: get clear on what cannot change, then play freely inside the fence line. Watch the full episode on YouTube or continue to stream audio on your favorite podcast platform.
Chapters:
00:00 True north and the fence line
00:40 Introduction
01:22 The grand opening campout and free chicken for a year
03:44 What happens beneath the waterline
05:38 Truett Cathy’s 1946 diner
06:53 The origin of the Chick-fil-A sandwich
07:34 The first Chick-fil-A in a 350-square-foot mall space
08:15 Pioneering food in the mall
08:38 Why Truett built his own operator model
09:51 What Chick-fil-A looks for in an operator
11:39 Why operators stay close to the customer
13:05 The first freestanding restaurant in 1986
15:23 Scrappy innovation and Dan Cathy’s rogue lemonade
18:14 Juicing 15 cases of lemons a day
20:29 Find the bottleneck, find the unlock
20:47 The innovation center and the mock store
22:11 Know what cannot change
24:45 Reading weak signals and the shift to the drive-through
26:14 From 100 cars an hour to 500
27:09 Lessons from a NASCAR pit crew
28:53 Making the business case for canopies and doors
29:35 The three-legged stool test
30:22 Leadership, systems, and the Chick-fil-A One app
32:20 Healthy competition and iron sharpening iron
34:30 Could Chick-fil-A fix the TSA line?
35:18 Drones, robots, and the future of delivery
38:04 Which delivery bets hold the most promise
39:45 Going global: planting seeds for the future
41:27 The story behind “my pleasure”
45:01 Your next step: join a Faith Driven Entrepreneur Group
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Faith Driven Entrepreneur is an educational website hosted by Faith Driven Movements (501c6) and FDM Foundation (501c3) nonprofit corporations whose mission is to inspire, educate, and mobilize people to use their time, talents and other resources in the marketplace. Faith Driven Movements brings together leaders from around the world that seek to make a financial, social, environmental and spiritual impact through their business ventures. The website is intended to be an opportunity to exchange ideas for educational purposes. Faith Driven Movements is not responsible for the opinions, advice, statements, materials, presentations, data, images, videos, documentation and other information (collectively, the “Materials”) expressed or otherwise shared by guest contributors (including without limitation podcast guests, conference speakers, guest writers, participating companies and investment professionals). The Materials are for informational purposes only, and the statements, views and opinions expressed at any presentation or in any Materials are those solely of the presenter and not of Faith Driven Movements. Hosts and Guests may maintain positions in the companies and securities discussed. Further, Faith Driven Movements does not endorse or recommend any presenter, promoter, investment advisor, strategy, company or any views mentioned at any conference or in the Materials. Under no circumstances will Faith Driven Movements (or their respective trustees, directors, officers, employees, or agents) be liable for the accuracy, quality or reliability of any of the presentations or Materials, any defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of presenters, or any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising from any presentations or Materials. By visiting the site you agree to comply with the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Code of Conduct.
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Faith Driven Entrepreneur is an educational platform hosted by Faith Driven Movements, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire, educate, and mobilize people to use their time, talents and other resources in the marketplace. Faith Driven Movements brings together leaders from around the world that seek to make a financial, social, environmental and spiritual impact through their business ventures. The website is intended to be an opportunity to exchange ideas for educational purposes. Faith Driven Movements is not responsible for the opinions, advice, statements, materials, presentations, data, images, videos, documentation and other information (collectively, the “Materials”) expressed or otherwise shared by guest contributors (including without limitation podcast guests, conference speakers, guest writers, participating companies and investment professionals). The Materials are for informational purposes only, and the statements, views and opinions expressed at any presentation or in any Materials are those solely of the presenter and not of Faith Driven Movements. Hosts and Guests may maintain positions in the companies and securities discussed. Further, Faith Driven Movements does not endorse or recommend any presenter, promoter, investment advisor, strategy, company or any views mentioned at any conference or in the Materials. Under no circumstances will Faith Driven Movements (or their respective trustees, directors, officers, employees, or agents) be liable for the accuracy, quality or reliability of any of the presentations or Materials, any defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of presenters, or any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising from any presentations or Materials. By visiting the site you agree to comply with the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Code of Conduct.
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Faith Driven Entrepreneur is an educational platform hosted by Faith Driven Movements, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire, educate, and mobilize people to use their time, talents and other resources in the marketplace. Faith Driven Movements brings together leaders from around the world that seek to make a financial, social, environmental and spiritual impact through their business ventures. The website is intended to be an opportunity to exchange ideas for educational purposes. Faith Driven Movements is not responsible for the opinions, advice, statements, materials, presentations, data, images, videos, documentation and other information (collectively, the “Materials”) expressed or otherwise shared by guest contributors (including without limitation podcast guests, conference speakers, guest writers, participating companies and investment professionals). The Materials are for informational purposes only, and the statements, views and opinions expressed at any presentation or in any Materials are those solely of the presenter and not of Faith Driven Movements. Hosts and Guests may maintain positions in the companies and securities discussed. Further, Faith Driven Movements does not endorse or recommend any presenter, promoter, investment advisor, strategy, company or any views mentioned at any conference or in the Materials. Under no circumstances will Faith Driven Movements (or their respective trustees, directors, officers, employees, or agents) be liable for the accuracy, quality or reliability of any of the presentations or Materials, any defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of presenters, or any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising from any presentations or Materials. By visiting the site you agree to comply with the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Code of Conduct.