Thread by @Narddog4747

🧵 Seven years ago, I committed to exactly what this guy recommended. I started at $40k and made $105k as a GM at Chick-fil-A in less than 3 years. This was my experience.

1/13

In 2018, a boomer aged Chickfila store owner convinced me to leave my corporate banking job and work for him, managing his restaurant, with the goal of becoming an owner myself.

His location was extremely high volume (3000+ daily transactions, over $9m sales with 125+ employees) and seemed like the perfect opportunity.

2/13

Having no restaurant (or managerial) experience, we agreed to an expedited development process to learn to manage the entire restaurant:

Year 1: Store Operations Team Member (Kitchen/Front/Drive Thru) ($40k)
Year 2: Assistant GM ($60-70k)
Year 3: GM & apply to become an owner ($100k+)

3/13

I started at a “projected” base pay of $40k but the trick here, that most of these businesses use, was being hourly instead of salary.

Year 1: $14/hr at 50 hours per week Year 2: $20/hr at 60 weekly hours Year 3: $28-30/hr at 60 weekly hours

Corporate banking came with long hours, so I felt prepared for the grind. I was anything but.

4/13

The first year was like drinking from a fire hose. The hours weren’t terrible, but the sheer physicality of the kitchen work questioned my sanity:

-Getting to work at 3:30 am to make a catering order of 300 biscuits by 6 am
-Daily unloading of a 150 piece truck order with 35 boxes of 50 lb waffle fry cases
-Breading and frying thousands of chicken breasts for 10 hours straight for many weeks.

5/13

By the start of the second year, I was beginning to wonder what I signed up for. However, promotion to AGM boosted my confidence, although that feeling lapsed quickly as my assumptions were crushed.

6/13

I envisioned managing the store unrestrained, as any good manager should, but that’s not how these places operate, which is why my overtime hours instantly doubled.

I still had the same responsibilities of “being part of the restaurant” (ie, > 80% working hours physical labor), but I had administrative responsibilities as well (HR, scheduling, inventory, etc.).

My weeks were extremely erratic, often closing then opening the restaurant; days still consisted of working as a team member, in the restaurant, with administrative responsibilities squeezed into hours when we weren’t busy — as if a Chickfila is ever slow.

7/13

At the end of year two, I began to seriously doubt my choices. My time card for the year amounted to over 3200 hours. I only took two days off the entire year — at the hospital with my wife and firstborn.

However, with the promotion to GM and interviewing with Chickfila corporate for ownership around the corner, I retained hope.

Further, I understood the operation very well. I was involved with pioneering mobile curbside ordering for Chickfila Corporate, increased store sales 20% and had one of the highest productivity outputs in the nation.

8/13

Unfortunately, year 3 was unrelentingly brutal.

I was “given the keys to the store”; I could make almost any decision for how it operated.

My entire existence was composed of eating, drinking and breathing Chickfila. I consistently worked 6 days/week at the store, often fulfilling administrative duties at home on Sundays.

I began interviewing with Chickfila corporate to become an owner in February and was subjected to 10 months of grueling interviews. There were weeks, months, of silence between interview rounds; it was nerve racking.

9/13

I received the results of my final interview with Chickfila corporate during the last week of October. They didn’t think I was ready to be an owner-operator and offered a two year contract of 100% travel managing corporately owned stores, advising that I would be in a better position to interview again at the end of the contract.

I was enraged with anger and frustration.

After letting my emotions settle, I spoke with the owner I worked under, who was equally as shocked of the interview results.

10/13

I politely gave Chickfila the middle finger and resigned two weeks later, mid-November.

My final paycheck was the only period for the year without overtime. I grossed $105k at $29/hr. Never taking a week off, averaging 66+ hrs per week.

I was beyond burnt out and experienced bouts of hysteria and depression. I didn’t work for another three months.

11/13

I learned quite a bit from this experience and would not wish the lifestyle of this industry upon anyone except my very worst enemies.

Most of my hours and strategic decisions were atypical but lifestyle was not that far off from what the average AGM/GM in quick service restaurants is like — relentless hours of physical labor, constant HR issues of ungrateful customers and low wage employees, wrapped into a beautiful package of a demeaningly underpaid hourly wage.

12/13

Thanks for reading my thread. Leave a like/follow if you enjoyed.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I know far too much about Chickfila and the restaurant industry as a whole.

13/13

DMs open for podcast hosts lol