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The Power List: No. 5 Dan Cathy

The Power List: No. 5 Dan Cathy

Part of the annual NRN 50 special report, The Power List profiles the 50 most powerful people who are leading and shaping change in the restaurant industry, as chosen by Nation’s Restaurant News.

The Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich is the cornerstone of its menu.

Dan Cathy, chairman, president and chief executive of Chick-fil-A Inc., rules the roost among chicken chains. During his time at the quick-service chain’s helm, he has propelled it past longtime leader KFC in terms of domestic systemwide sales and introduced it to markets beyond its Southeast stronghold.

At the same time, Cathy has delighted the brand’s cult following by continuing to visit with the huge crowds camped out at unit openings and remaining true to the Christian beliefs that have kept the brand’s restaurants closed on Sundays since the first unit opened in a suburban Atlanta mall in 1967.

Chick-fil-A overtook Yum! Brands Inc. subsidiary KFC in 2012 as the largest chicken chain in terms of systemwide foodservice sales, according to Nation’s Restaurant News’ most recent annual Top 100 census. The Atlanta-based chain ended 2012 with domestic sales of $4.6 billion, compared to KFC’s $4.5 billion.

By the end of 2013, systemwide sales for the family-owned company were near $5 billion, a spokeswoman said — about four times its $1.24 billion in sales in 2001, when Cathy was named president and chief operating officer. In those 12 years, Chick-fil-A grew from 1,014 units to 1,776 and expanded outside the Southeast into California, Illinois and Massachusetts.

Cathy, who assumed the CEO mantle from his father and restaurant founder S. Truett Cathy in November, attributes the chain’s significant growth not only to a beloved signature sandwich — a fried chicken breast with two pickles on a bun — but to meticulous attention to customer service.

He said last year in an interview with “partner in poultry” Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of AFC Enterprises Inc., parent of the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen chain: “We are in the restaurant business. We’re not a financial institution or in retailing, and the heart of our whole industry is based on this issue of gracious hospitality.”

Cathy calls it “second-mile service,” a term borrowed from the Bible. The first mile, Cathy said, meets customer expectations in terms of cleanliness and order accuracy. The second mile exceeds expectations.

“We’ve been studying our brethren in full-service dining who specialize in treating people with honor, dignity and respect, and we began to put some of those principles and practices in our restaurants at a $7 price point,” he explained. “We invested in second-mile service from a vocabulary standpoint. ‘May I refresh your beverage?’ ‘I’ll be assisting you to your table today’ — unexpected words and phrases that are a way of kind of saluting these customers and saying that we care about you, personally.”

In announcing his son’s promotion to CEO in November, S. Truett Cathy said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Dan is ready to take Chick-fil-A into its next chapter of growth and stewardship. He has been a highly effective leader in the business and shares my commitment of being a faithful steward to all that has been entrusted to us."

Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless

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