MSNBC wants you to stay calm, don’t worry — somehow, some way, Chik Fil A franchisees will “weather” the recent controversy. From the Orange County Register‘s report:
Chick-fil-A Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy’s recent reiteration of his long-time support of “the biblical definition of the family unit” in “The Biblical Recorder” caused a national controversy.
Gay marriage proponents called for boycotts and staged “kiss-ins” at restaurants. Several politicians announced plans to block Chick-fil-A’s applications to open new restaurants in their jurisdictions. And company supporters turned out in record numbers for a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day Aug. 1.
Standing at ground zero of the controversy were more than 1,600 franchise owners of Chick-fil-A restaurants in 38 states plus the District of Columbia.
Chilling stuff, for mom-and-pop small business owners caught up in a nutty Christian controversy that wasn’t even of their own making. But how will they ever survive? Well, the obscene profits might help a li’l bit:
John A. Gordon, principal at Pacific Management Consulting Group in San Diego, projects that the average Chick-fil-A had a 29.9 percent spike in sales to $10,320 and 367 more customers on Appreciation Day than on an average Wednesday.
He noted that when companies have a one-day promotion, it tends to take sales and traffic away from other days. But in Chick-fil-A’s case, the appreciation event was not created by the company’s marketing department. Supporters of the company and First Amendment free speech rights showed up and spent money without coupons or special discounts, although the long-term impact on franchisees’ business remains to be seen.
Franchisees are reportedly licking their chops at the prospect of that long-term impact.
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