Hello everyone. I would like to try to clear a few things up here. I am an Owner/Operator for a Chick-fil-A restaurant and I would just like to say that we DO NOT discriminate on any race, religion, or sexual orientation.
I would also like to clear up that we are not actually a "Christian Organization." When Truett Cathy founded the company in 1946 he decided to make all of his business decisions on biblical priniciples.
I can assure you that any reports of someone being fired because the team member is not a christian is not true.
In my unit, we have people from many religions working together. We also are very good to our team members as far as rewards and regognition. We offer $1000 scholoarships to each employee as long as they work for at least 2 years with us and accumulate 2000 hours. That averages out to about 20 hours per week.
We also offer a select scholarship to Berry College of $25,000 to a certain number of team members.
We also have Camp Winshape and Winshape Homes. Winshape homes is a foster home that Truett founded many years ago helping out kids who have been unfortunate to not have parents to raise them.
If you guys do not want to eat with us that is your decision and I respect that, but I do want you to know this.
PLEASE DO NOT FEEL THAT YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN OUR RESTAURANT BECAUSE OF YOUR RACE, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, OR RELIGIOUS PREFERENCE.
It would be my pleasure to serve you. All we are trying to do is serve great food, by friendly people, in a clean restaurant. If you haven't come into one of our Chick-fil-A restaurants, please come by and be our guest. Thank you for reading and I aplogize for the length.
I didn't realize this side of Chick Fil A until this thread so I did a little research so I could make my own decisions. And what I found was the following:
Truett is one the largest funders to Focus on the Family which does NOT support equal rights for gays, gay adoption or gay marriage. They are quite clear on that and were huge supporters in Colorado in Amendment 2 which prohibits equal rights in marriage for homosexuals and also disallowing civil rights protection for gays and lesbians. That is a huge statement in representing a large organization and one that quite honestly disgusts me.
His own website states:
Cathy is a devoutly religious man who built his life and business based on hard work, humanity and biblical principles. Based on these principles, all of Chick-fil-A's restaurants operate with a "Closed-on-Sunday" policy, - without exception.
I can't argue with that. I don't find anything wrong with being closed on Sunday. Heck, the Bible states it's the day of rest! But to run one's business based upon biblican principal is a very slippery slope and is not inclusive of other religions or those that follow them.
It's clear he does indeed enforce his own beliefs onto his business and as an American I support that. It's his business, not mine, and he is allowed to do so. And as an American, I will continue to support my own decision to not patronize his stores.
As for your other points in terms of his great work, Berry Collge is one the largest liberal arts Christian colleges in the US. Winshape Camp is Christian camp ground.
Your message on this thread, however well meaning, was quite nice I do have to say. Your position, though, only reflects your own and not the corporate culture.
I truly do support one's right to practice whatever religion you choose. I don't find one better than the other. I just find that when one decides to use that religion as a weapon or as a means to recruit others into the fold, or to use it to separate out other people who aren't "true believers" then I have a problem with that person and not the religion. In the case of Truett, I have a problem with him so he won't be getting my hard earned dollar ever again.
:rotf:
All of these restaurants were inexpensive and aimed at the family or traveler on a budget...seems to be the opposite of what the Walt Disney company is doing...
....enough said.
