33 years ago I was working at Sears in a mall and Chick-fil-a was in the food court. Best damned food I’d ever had at that point, with the bonus of Henry Beazeley’s onion rings across the way.
I moved away and finally went out of my way to visit their restaurant (they opened up outside of the mall) a year ago for reasons others have outlined here, plus my memory of the food.
I was sorely disappointed. Clearly people are going there for reasons other than the food or people have significantly lowered their expectations.
Still have yet to sample the Popeye’s chicken sandwich (none near me, much like the 100 mile drive to sample In&Out which I have no intention of undertaking).
Wouldn’t surprise me that CFA’s product has gone way downhill in that time frame. Same thing happened with In-N-Out. Ate their burgers often in the ‘90s in So Cal. Best chain around of its type. I moved out of state and didn’t go there for about a decade. When I came back they were crap. Same with KFC. In the ‘70s and ‘80s they were tasty, but for the past couple decades ....garbage. The quality of fast food chains in general is way down compared to what it used to be.
When people here were shouting hosannas to CFA, I noticed the decline in their food that you mentioned. The food is bad and their bathrooms are worse than McDonalds. And it’s expensive...
I should be so lucky!
It's a LOOoooong way from Indy to CAli!!!