I know I've written this before, but when I think about Chick-Fil-A, particularly the version located at New Road and Franklin, I think of Yogi Berra.
Berra is my second favorite historical baseball player (this signifies baseball players whom I never saw play in a game and Berra is behind Satchell Paige). The reason I like Berra — and I realize this is kind of obvious and maybe cliché — is because of his Yogi-isms.
In this case, I'm referring to Berra's lament that "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
In an instant of good fortunate, I shared this perspective with local Chick-Fil-A operator Jake Roye.
It happened like this: I was looking for a place to sit down and eat my pre-golf-tournament lunch on Friday and found an empty seat at a table with three gentlemen that I had not yet met. Two of them happened to be a Chick-Fil-A manager from Temple and Roye.
So therefore, I had the opportunity to ask the burning question on behalf of you, WacoFork nation. When will Waco get another Chick-Fil-A? I'm sure Roye hears this question on a daily basis, but he didn't seem the least bit strained by my bringing it up again. He politely explained that he would like to open another store, but he's waiting on the green light from the big Chick-Fil-A in the sky (Atlanta). He also explained that because he operates two stores — Franklin and Richland Mall — he has the availability to operate one more (Chick-Fil-A puts a three-store limit on its operators). But again, he's waiting for the go ahead.
Then I mentioned my association between Chick-Fil-A and the Yogi-ism. I asked if he felt that Chick-Fil-A was leaving some business on the table.
He asked if I meant "Was he losing business?" Now, it's hard to imagine a restaurant that turns out so many customers between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on a daily basis losing customers. Roye looked at me like I had just asked his mom how much she weighed, which I totally understand. I get that sometimes. But then he once again politely answered my question.
Basically we agreed that, while the drive thru is probably as efficient as it could be, we both know people who avoid Chick-Fil-A at lunchtime out of agoraphobia.
Then we shook hands and went our separate ways to play golf. Best interview I've had in a long time.
One More Bite: WacoFork frequent food challenger Toph Whisnant commented that he doesn't care how many Chick-Fil-As there are in town, he just wants there to be one that features sweet potato fries.
