insane infrastructure needed

Chick-Fil-A has been around more than my whole life. I remember going there as a kid in the mall. I remember going there as an adult in the mall.

At no time eating at Chick-Fil-A do I once recall thinking to myself "goddamn, this is exceptional!" It's a chicken sandwich. It's not particularly good or bad, and I am not into waffle fries.

At no time eating at Chick-Fil-A did I once think "this line is too long, I will eat elsewhere." I don't recall ever seeing a line at all.

Long about 1986 they started making standalone locations, but I never saw any until the 2000s. I never went, because I had long since decided that mediocre chicken sandwiches weren't really my thing. However, since I first noticed the standalone locations I have also noticed that their lines have consistently gotten longer and longer. It's interesting that the growth of these lines seem to have coincided with the rise of social media, but I won't get too tinfoil-hatty here.

So anyway. One day, I decided I should give them a try - obviously, they're getting something right, right? Let's see what all the hype is about.

Yeah no, it's the exact same mediocre shit. It's fine. It's not great, it's OK for fast food, maybe even slightly above average. But is it good enough to wait in a line like this that wraps around the building twice? No, thank you.

So I guess what I am saying is, I'm with you. I have to figure it's the power of marketing, because the only thing they've done that I can see is increase their marketing. Also their marketing - at least the public marketing (who knows what guerilla shit they do on social media to keep those lines growing) - is super weird. Cows exhorting you to eat chicken, because they don't want to die. I suppose given that cows have no messiah, this is a perfectly reasonable position for them to hold in the eyes of the Chick-Fil-A Illuminati, but idk.

Want a chicken sandwich? I can name half a dozen local shops that will hook you up with better. Is it fast? Jesus Christ, no. The apologists say yes, given the size of the lines, but I say no, given the size of the lines. I guess that's a matter of perspective.

What's not disputable is that this is fast food that, like all fast food - you can honestly live better without.

Your comment was so long, you should get English Comp101 college credits for that.
It's the sauce

It’s not that good compared to any food that isn’t fast food, but compared to other fast food joints it’s hard to beat on quality alone.

I absolutely hate this brand as a company but compared to other options in my area (DFW Texas) this terrible brand is usually faster and cheaper. If I forgot my lunch or something I may go here. Fortunately some of the newer chains have decided it might be a good idea to not be super expensive and slow and I've been going to those instead.
I used to eat lunch at one of these via motorcycle and would walk inside and every single fucking time I'd nearly be run over by a distracted driver.
- Yeah like I’m not at all a chick fil a Stan. They don’t have much of a food selection and for chicken I actually prefer Popeyes by like a country mile but it isn’t because Popeyes chicken is higher quality, that’s for certain lmao.
  
  Popeyes is decent but a lot of the time the ones I've been to have been a pretty low quality experience. I'm sure that's mostly due to wages being low....
  
  Popeyes is always a low quality experience. It’s a part of the company brand at this point.

I rarely go to such places but the quality of service tends to be above average.

It's incredibly easy to understand, people have different tastes and are able to not mind that it's packed! They're probably also unaware/don't care that the restaurant is owned by bigots.

What is the bigoted part about them? Sorry, my country only has a handful of American chains(looks at shitty pizza from Dominoes) and I don't think this one has launched here yet.

The owners are (or at least were) serious about their Christian beliefs and used the company's wealth to help fund anti-LGBTQ+ groups. Whether that's changed or not, I don't know, but they shell mediocre chicken sandwiches so it's no loss to just ignore them, except for the amount of pollution people seem to generate waiting in line around their buildings:
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/29/18644354/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-donations-homophobia-dan-cathy
- It did change AFAIK. So they got to double dip. They gave in to the pressure and religious nuts flock to them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A_and_LGBT_people
- Did you read that article? The way people talk about you'd think they were donating to conversion camps. But the two organizations named were... The Fellowship of Christian Athletes and The Salvation Army. I mean far be it from me to say what constitutes "anti-lgbt organizations", but it seems clear to me now why the specific organizations are never mentioned.
  
  [Chick-Fil-A's] WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas," the chain is said to have written in a letter to Alderman Proco Moreno. The Chicago group added in a press release: "In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations, such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage.
  Those aren't the only two; per their own press release they've donated to these Christian Nationalist organizations.

It is good for fast food and, despite being packed, you could join a line of 20 cars and still be on your way in under five minutes. They are incredibly efficient and that helps when people are making decisions, especially with a screaming child in the back.

5 minutes? Hah!
- More like 10. Compare that to other fast food, and they are legitimately very fast. Last time I went to a McDonalds, it took well over 20 minutes.
  
  McDonald’s is franchised. We have a dope ass one down the road from me where honestly I can’t remember the last time I waited longer than 5 minutes. Without line maybe 2.
  There’s one across town that’s garbage for wait times. They are owned by different people.
  Frankly, if I knew I had to wait ten minutes for a chicken sandwich I’d just find a local bar & grill and have a cold one with it.
  
  I'm not from the US and don't like American fast food. How does 2 minute fast food work? They must precook most of the food and just assemble it for the customer. Why do y'all buy that shit? Wouldn't you rather wait 10 minutes for a decent meal cooked fresh to order? Is there no alternative?
  
  How does 2 minute fast food work? They must precook most of the food and just assemble it for the customer.
  Yes. That's how fast food works.
  Why do y'all buy that shit?
  It's cheap and fast.
  Wouldn't you rather wait 10 minutes for a decent meal cooked fresh to order?
  Buddy, if it's only taking 10 minutes, it ain't "cooked fresh to order".
  Is there no alternative?
  Sure. But people like fast food, for one reason or another. It's like you're assuming that because you don't like it, no one else likes it either, and they only eat it out of necessity. How arrogant of you.
  
  That's a very long time for Maccas, unless you were ordering for twenty people
  Even when nothing in your order is ready they can get out a standard meal in less than ten minutes, normally
Maybe it's just because the one near me has horrible quality control but the lines are long, they are not quick, and the sandwiches are mediocre at best
They are incredibly efficient
Being efficient for a drive through and being efficient on an absolute scale are entirely different things. In reality, there is no such thing as an efficient drive through once you account for all the externalities.