COMMENTARY: New app lets customers discreetly satisfy Chick-fil-A cravings during Pride Month

By: Dan Cathy, CEO, Chick-fil-A

Originally published June 2021.

The other day, I received an email from a customer. It read:

Dear Mr. Cathy:

In 2012, you expressed your opposition to same-sex marriage. Then, as now, I vehemently disagreed with your opinion. In fact, I found it disgusting and offensive. While I myself am not homosexual, I could only imagine how hurtful your words must have been to that community, who had been fighting for equality for so long.

As you probably know, June is Gay Pride Month. Ever since you expressed your opinion, now nearly a decade ago, I vowed to boycott Chick-fil-A during this month. And although it tested my willpower, I usually started off strong.

But then after about a week, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t know what you do, but your chicken always tastes so gosh darn good. So, first, I’d stop in only for a few nuggets. That’s how it started. But once I got that flavor back in my mouth, I couldn’t stop.

Before long, I was again visiting your establishment on my way home from work every three or four days. It made me sick to my stomach, really, to frequent such a bigoted restaurant during Pride Month.

In closing, I hope you know just how much anguish your opinion on same-sex marriage has caused me, even all these years later.

Sincerely,

XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

I’ll protect the customer’s anonymity because, truth is, I get letters like this almost every day. People wishing not to support our restaurant chain during Pride Month, but who ultimately get lured back due to our quality product.

In years past, the most common way people handled this predicament was to simply place a brown, paper bag over their heads as they entered the store so as to not reveal their identities. This seemed to work for quite a while. That is until a couple years ago, when a young gentleman, bag over head, exited one of our stores and, rather than turning left into the parking lot, instead turned right and walked directly into oncoming traffic.

Thanks to God, he survived, although he has no recollection of the Ford pickup that mowed him over. To this day, he is paralyzed from the neck down, forced to eat liquefied chicken nuggets through a straw. And yet, he says his biggest regret was not that fateful stroll into the busy street, but that the ensuing media attention uncovered him as someone who ate Chick-fil-A during Pride Month.

I respect all of our customers, and I don’t want to see this happen to anyone ever again. That is why Chick-fil-A is launching a new app—available on both Apple and Android devices—that will make discreetly purchasing our product during the month of June a breeze.

Simply use your phone to download the Chick-fil-A “Pride and Prejudice” app. Once downloaded, customers will be able to order any of their favorite items, from our world-renowned chicken sandwiches to our delicious milkshakes. Your data is not tracked or stored, your information 100 percent protected.

After placing your order, the app will direct you to the nearest pick-up location. Obviously, this is not at one of our brick-and-mortar stores, as that would defeat the entire purpose. Instead, it will lead you to a remote area, typically the parking lot of a vacant shopping mall or the back of an old construction site or junkyard.

From there, a black car with tinted windows will pull up beside the customer and slyly hand over the bag of ordered food. Don’t worry, the bag does not feature any Chick-fil-A branding. And the customer need not even make eye contact with the distributor.

While we expect this service to be most utilized during Pride Month, it will be available year-round in case I express another opinion to which our customer base takes offense. Because at Chick-fil-A, serving customers to complete satisfaction is not only our mission. It is our pleasure.