ATLANTA – THE TOUR
The following is my experience taking the Backstage Tour at the Chick-fil-A Support Center in Atlanta, GA. This tour was part of a visit that my wife, Angie, and I made on March 25, 2024. The reason for our visit is explained in the following article.
If you are not familiar with my Saturday morning breakfast ritual, give this story a read and then come back here to learn more about the history of Chick-fil-A and our tour experience.
When you visit the Chick-fil-A Support Center for a tour, upon arrival you go through a security screening, check-in, and then head to a large room in the main building and watch a quick video. We were then divided into small groups and given tour badges to wear by Lana, our tour guide. Joining us in our tour group were some Chick-fil-A franchise operators, their staff, and some of their family members. One group was from The Dwarf House near the Atlanta airport and the other was from a Chick-fil-A in West Evansville, Indiana. We all were given listening devices with headphones so that we could easily hear Lana as we began the tour. She was a seasoned pro at educating guests on the history of Chick-fil-A. Our first stop was to an exhibit that was a re-creation of “The Dwarf Grill”. This was the restaurant that S. Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A’s founder, first opened in Atlanta in 1946. They had a blue menu with affordable prices and were able to serve good food, fast. Oh, and just like Chick-fil-A today, they were closed on Sunday. Moving on from the “Dwarf Grill”, we went to a room that had display cases filled with exhibits of the history of CFA. For example, in 2010 they introduced the spicy chicken sandwich and way back in 1986, the chicken biscuit was introduced, which is my favorite item on the menu. I also learned that from 1964 to 1967, the Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich was licensed to over 50 establishments and the Houston Astrodome was one of them.
Near the exit was a red brick wall with a very old safe. This holds the secret recipe of the seasoning that is used on their chicken sandwich. Only a few people know the combination. I, unfortunately, am not one of them and I had a feeling that on this visit, I would not be learning the combination or what the seven secret ingredients were. This safe reminded me of the vault on display at World of Coke, that holds the secret formula of Coca-Cola. Chick-fil-A and Coke have a storied history. Angie then pointed out to me the timeline that had everything about the cows.
Did you know that their first mascot was a chicken named Doodles? The next stop on the tour was up to Truett Cathy’s office on the top floor. We all squeezed into the glass elevators and headed up. The corporate headquarters opened in 1984 and Truett walked up the stairs each morning. The stairs curve upwards in the center of the atrium. There are pictures of the cows on each floor. Before we entered the office, there was a room with a timeline of Truett’s story. I really got the sense that he was ahead of his time when it came to making business decisions. I mean, he was selling Coke out of a wagon at the age of eight to help his family make ends meet. When I was eight, I just went to school and played with Lego. The office is big, I would expect nothing less for the CEO of a billion-dollar company and it has an amazing view of the woods just outside. It is filled with family photos, artwork, books, and sitting in the chair at the desk is a plush cow.
I thought this was so cute. Not too long ago, a similar sized plush cow showed up at KPRC and was upstairs in the sales department. It was probably sent by the CFA marketing department to different media outlets. After my biscuit story had been published, I came into work one day and this cow was sitting on my desk in the newsroom. I figured it was a gift from the sales team upstairs so when I left for the day, the cow came with me. I put him in the back seat and put the seat belt on for the drive home. When I got home, I put the cow at our kitchen table in Ethan’s seat. That way I would not have to see his empty chair and it would keep people from sitting there. It does bring me comfort when I am dining at the table.
Lana told us that the only people who are allowed to sit at Truett’s desk are the CFA Operators when they are signing their documents for their restaurants. Did you notice the wagon with the bottles of Coke? Also on the desk were Truett’s name tag and a bible. He led a life that was centered on biblical principles and family. He had always said he was not in the chicken business, but the people business.
We left the office and went to the car museum downstairs, there is a Batmobile in the collection. It is not street legal, so it could only be driven around the private road at the headquarters. I bet that was fun. As we were walking outside to catch the shuttle bus to the next stop, I noticed a picture of Truett that was made from Rubik’s cubes. I called Angie over and we were both in awe. When Ethan was in the hospital fighting cancer, he was given a Rubik’s cube by the child life staff. He had never solved one before. As a bright 12-year-old, he did what most kids would do, he went on the internet to figure out the mysteries of how to master the cube. Two hours later, he had it solved. And from that point on, Ethan was able to solve the cube when anyone mixed it up. Was this another sign?
We exited the doors and boarded a shuttle bus that took us across the campus out to the main road and then to a plain white warehouse that was in a gated lot. Over the years they have had to expand their operations and lease property nearby. We all got off the bus and walked up a short flight of stairs into this single-story building. It had high ceilings and had lots of spaces behind glass doors. These were the training kitchens. Teams from all over the country come to the support center for training. We went to the far end of the building and there were two Chick-fil-A restaurants. These were not open to the public they were full-scale mock-ups of the restaurants. I felt like I was in my local CFA. They had all the furniture, decorations, cash registers, soda dispensers, menus, and even the lighting was the same. The one on the right had an “L” shaped kitchen and the one on the left was outfitted with the “Centerline” kitchen. These kitchens are fully functional restaurants and are used to train operators and their staff. We got to walk through the different kitchens and learn all about the inner workings of how all the food is prepared. The group that was with us were pointing out where the chicken is breaded, fried, grilled and then packaged up for the customers. They were the experts because they work on the same equipment at their restaurants, and they make a lot of chicken. I even got to see where they make the biscuits from scratch each morning. This was my favorite part of the kitchen.
We then learned about all the food handling and safety that is required. We then walked to the other side of the building to find a third restaurant with a centerline kitchen and a drive-thru. This is the new design that you may have seen where there are sliding doors that allow for the team members to walk right outside and bring your order to your car. The coolest part about this drive-thru was that since it was inside a training facility, they are not able to bring cars inside, instead they use adult-size tricycles. I can just imagine how much fun it would be riding around that line all day while other team members are training. I was going to take a spin on one of the bikes, but we had to get to our next stop, “The Kitchen”.
We boarded the bus for a quick ride to another plain-looking building nearby. We were buzzed into the lobby area and once we were all inside, we were told to put our phones away and we were no longer allowed to take any photographs or record videos. This was “The Kitchen”, Chick-fil-A’s new product development office. This is where any new menu item is dreamed up by the chefs. I found out that the Honey Pepper Pimento Sandwich took 5 years from concept to table. What took so long? That was the question that I asked, and the answer was just as complicated as the process. Sure, a chef can come up with a great recipe for a new menu item, but then that item must be able to be produced on an epic scale. There are more than 3,000 restaurants and that means that no matter which one you go to for that menu item, it must taste the same. If you are in Hawaii, it must taste the same as if you were ordering it in Houston, Detroit, Orlando, or even Puerto Rico. Even getting the dispenser created to put the right amount of honey pepper cheese took lots of time to develop. We were standing right outside of one of the test kitchens. Looking through the thick glass windows there were two people in suits sitting with their backs to us at a stainless-steel counter high table. I saw three Chick-fil-A chefs in black uniforms bringing them different food items to try. We were all whispering about what they may have been trying, was it the next new menu item? By then we were getting hungry just thinking about it. Next, we stopped by the Design Department. This is where they invent all the packaging, bags, signage, and anything else that gets the Chick-fil-A branding. Speaking of Hawaii, they have banned most plastics and the team had to design a container made from paper for the salad items on the menu. Different regions around the world have different regulations on the use of plastic, paper, and foam so it is the responsibility of this team to meet those regulations, all while keeping the temperature and taste of the food consistent with their standards. Sometime in the future you will be drinking from new double-walled paper cups that do not sweat. They had these at the support center, and they keep your Coke cool with no condensation on the sides. The rest of the visit I am not allowed to discuss. It was a “Top Secret” facility after all. We then boarded the bus back to the main building for lunch.
THE ARCHIVES
As invited guests, we had the opportunity to visit parts of the headquarters where the public does not get to go, and the Archives was one of those places. After our lunch at the Café, we were shuttled over to another plain white building across campus. Upon entering we noticed a whiteboard that had our names on it welcoming us along with other team members visiting for the day.
We were greeted with smiles from the staff and then we sat on some vintage benches from a CFA restaurant and listened to some captivating stories about the early days of Chick-fil-A. This building had a very high ceiling, lots of storage shelves, and was very cold. The temperature and humidity were regulated because there were some rare one-of-a-kind items that were being preserved. We saw an original “Doodles” costume, signage, giant fiberglass cows, documents, uniforms that have been worn over the years, menus, kids’ meals packaging and toys, you name it they had it. These were the people that were responsible for protecting and preserving the historic items that are a part of the fabric of the company’s past, present and future. Before we left, we signed a 4′x8′ white canvas that once filled up with other visitors’ signatures will be hung up along with the other canvases that adorn the walls.
We left a special message that will probably be there for a long time to come. I was impressed with the care that they have for their history, it is very important to their culture, and they are very proud of that, and it shows. We spent the rest of our time exploring. It was like being in an antique store, but nothing was for sale. Once the Archives tour ended, we boarded the shuttle for the ride back to the main building. If you want to take your own backstage tour, you can visit Chick-fil-A’s website for more information. https://tours.chick-fil-a.com.
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