Will You Eat at Chick-fil-A?
The controversial restaurant chain opens its third location in Hawaiʻi, the first drive-thru on Oʻahu.
We are much more forgiving — or forgetful? — than we think.
Celebrities crash and burn — and we cheer them on from the sidelines. Public figures are disgraced — and we seem OK with them when they later emerge on reality TV shows.
And then there are the businesses we can’t seem to quit.
Whole Foods Market, for example, has been at the center of scandals — including when CEO John Mackey wrote an op/ed piece for The Wall Street Journal in 2009 offering an alternative to ObamaCare and saying most people’s health problems were their own fault. Or when Amazon was accused by federal safety regulators of failing to keep warehouse workers safe from workplace hazards and systematically shortchanging workers on their paychecks.
Yet, here we are. Shopping at Whole Foods, tossing items in our Amazon baskets. All is forgiven.
Same for Chick-fil-A, the restaurant chain that had been, until recently (and after protests and boycotts), supporting anti-LGBTQ+ organizations.
I would imagine some people aren’t too thrilled about the chain restaurant — the largest specializing in chicken sandwiches — opening in Hawaiʻi.
But here’s the thing: It’s a franchise, and the owner for the Beretania Street location — Zane Dydasco — seems like a nice guy. He grew up in Pālolo Valley, graduated from Kamehameha Schools Kapālama Campus and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He’s married, has three kids — all girls — and wants to support the local economy through this venture.
Dydasco said he wanted to work with Chick-fil-A because he liked how the corporate company — still family-run and based in Atlanta — supports the community through donations and grants and focuses on sustainable efforts, including diverting millions of pounds of food waste from landfills.
While the national office was criticized for aligning with conservative-leaning organizations, the Hawaiʻi franchise is supporting the Hawaiʻi Foodbank and donating its surplus food to Aloha Harvest.
“Honestly, I just ask that everyone gives us a chance,” Dydasco says. “We really care for everybody.”
In Hawaiʻi, though, we seem more concerned about how this new restaurant, on the already-busy one-way Beretania Street across from a very busy McDonald’s, will impact traffic.
And Dydasco, who lives in the area, is concerned, too. He’s worked with state and city agencies to find solutions and has been meeting with folks in the neighborhood. The restaurant opens on July 27.
“We’re just so appreciative of the demand,” Dydasco says. “We are doing everything we possible can … We know we’re the new neighbors on the block.”
So what is Chick-fil-A going to do?
Part of the company’s strategy is having team members on the ground, every step of the way, to move you along. So when you pull into the drive-thru, you will be met by a team member — wearing a red polo shirt made from recycled Coca-Cola bottles, just FYI — who will take your order. Then another team member will take payment — cash or credit card. (You can also use the Chick-fil-A app.) Then yet another team member will bring your order out to your car.
Yes, three actual people in a drive-thru line. It’s astounding.
No doubt this Chick-fil-A will lure droves of people — some who have never dined here before, others who are rabid fans of its chicken sandwiches and hand-spun milkshakes, still others (like me) who haven’t eaten here in years (OK, decades).
Here’s what you need to know:
The restaurant is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., serving breakfast (the only one on Oʻahu) until 10:30 a.m.
Breakfast items include chicken biscuits (which are handmade daily), hash brown scramble burrito, bacon-egg-cheese muffin and a fruit-topped Greek yogurt parfait.
Like other Chick-fil-A restaurants, this one is closed on Sunday.
This location offers walk-up (essential take-out) and drive-thru. There is no dining area.
There are seven stalls for walk-up customers.
Chick-fil-A’s Sunjoy drink is really an Arnold Palmer — a mix of its signature iced tea and three-ingredient lemonade — and it’s fantastic.
So, will you be eating here?
Chick-fil-A Makiki, 1056 S Beretania St., Honolulu, cfamakiki.com, @chickfila_makiki
Personally, my Wife, a local from Molokai'i, and I, a local Haole, are "naturally" tolerant of individual's sexual identity. ANYONE should be allowed to eat or work at Chick-fil-A.
Because of the popularity, we tend to avoid crowds. SO unless they have tables to reserve, or they open one in Mililani (which it could use) we shan't be visiting too soon.
Sorry