Chick-fil-A COO speaks on leadership and quality
By Kim Puckett
Staff Writer
Dan Cathy, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A, encouraged UIndy students to continue learning even after school ends, during his speech about leadership on March 26 in Good Hall Recital Hall. The presentation was sponsored by the Student Business Leadership Academy.
“If you don’t continue to be a student after you graduate, then you have no business in leadership,” Cathy said.
Chick-fil-A, known for its chicken sandwich, operates in 37 states. Cathy listed Chicago and Detroit as possible future locations for the fast-food chain.
“We would love to expand globally,” Cathy said. “Right now, we are focusing on expanding throughout the U.S.”
According to Matt Will, assistant professor of finance and director of external relations for the School of Business, Cathy’s presentation sought to link students with the nationally successful chain and show them how a corporation such as Chick-fil-A operates.
Cathy remembered a guest speaker from his time in college who drew the first organizational chart of business that he had ever seen. He credited this speaker with inspiring his choice to major in marketing.
Cathy discussed the fast-food chain’s successful advertising campaign involving cows instead of the original and more expected chicken mascot.
“We sold more Chick-fil-A cow calendars last year than Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition calendars,” Cathy said. “It takes some mental gymnastics to figure out why there are cows on a chicken sandwich ad.”
Running through a brief history of the Chick-fil-A restaurant, Cathy reminisced about singing to customers while he and his brother cleaned tables in the original Dwarf House Grill.
“There were eight stools at the counter. We had a cigarette machine at one end of the restaurant and a jukebox at the other,” Cathy said. “Do you guys even know what a jukebox is? It’s an MP3 player on steroids.”
During his outline of the evolution of the restaurant developed by his father, which is still one of the most successful family-owned and operated chains in America, Cathy emphasized the importance of businesses staying relevant.
“When the rate of external change is slower than the rate of internal change, disaster is immanent for a business,” Cathy said.
Cathy also stressed the importance of taking advantage of new opportunities by discussing Chick-fil-A’s success in the shopping mall market, beginning in 1967.
“Get astute and attentive today,” Cathy said. “You never know when a new opportunity will present itself.”
In response to students’ questions about Chick-fil-A’s success, Cathy credited the restaurant’s unique deal for new location operators with most of the chain’s success. In the operator deal, Chick-fil-A contributes $2.8 million in capital toward the restaurant, while the operators only contribute $5,000.
“Our operator deal has been the same for 40 years,” Cathy said. “The most important asset new operators can bring to the table is an MBA, also known as a mop-and-bucket attitude. A willingness to do whatever it takes can be as important as a piece of paper that you get from a two-year program.”
Cathy also talked about Chick-fil-A’s unique policy of being closed on Sundays. He said the Christian-based philosophy also serves a monetary purpose, because being closed on Sundays brings in more business the other six days a week.
“After we’ve all had a chance to rest on Sunday, our pickles are more perfectly placed on the chicken sandwiches and cars move faster through our drive-through,” Cathy said. “Our new saying is pickles should date but not mate.”
According to Cathy, getting hired at Chick-fil-A is a rare opportunity. The restaurant receives about 1,000 resumes a month, and only one out of every 100 applicants is selected. Selection of applicants is based on three main attributes: competency, chemistry and character.
“The three Cs demonstrate a person’s business acumen, enthusiasm, and ability to inspire people,” Cathy said.
Cathy added that 70 percent of location operators started out as hourly employees and make an average salary $178,000 annually in their current positions. The chain has selected operators as young as 19 years old.
According to Will, having speakers like Cathy at the university serves to teach students about important business experience, which can be difficult to teach in a classroom.
“It is the goal of the SBLA to get CEOs of companies to speak,” Will said. “Having someone national also creates a good networking opportunity for students.”
