When it comes to fast food, people mostly focus on fast. With improving efficiency and a new sales-driven promotion every month, the faster a company can get food to customers, the better, right? Maybe not. Chick-fil-A developed a smarter idea—prioritizing People over Profits with Purpose and Faith.
On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles, one of Chick-fil-A’s founding C-Suite leaders, Steve Robinson, reveals untold stories on how they did it—in good times and bad. Steve was the founding Chief Marketing Officer of Chick-fil-A, where he and Founder Truett Cathy, built the most unconventional franchise model by doing something the world’s top corporations struggle with—prioritizing People over Profits. And it worked.
After some setbacks, Steve went on to create the most iconic fast-food advertising campaign—that not only differentiated them in a sea of fast-food sales-focused chains—but rebooted an industry. Now with over 3000 locations Chick-fil-A is one of three brands with U.S. sales over $20 billion, along with McDonald’s and Starbucks.
He went on to became a Chick-fil-A board member and authored Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A: How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand. It, and this episode, is the inside story of how they rebooted the sector, turning prevailing theories of fast-food marketing upside down while building one of the most successful and beloved brands in America.