- Chick-fil-A likely loses more than $1 billion a year by staying closed on Sundays.
- The chicken chain's founder, Truett Cathy, decided to close all locations on Sundays because of his Christian faith.
- While Cathy's original reasoning was rooted in religion, closing on Sundays is also a brilliant business decision, experts say.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
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Chick-fil-A likely loses millions of dollars by refusing to open on Sundays. But the strategy is still worth it for the chicken chain.
Chick-fil-A earned $10.46 billion in US systemwide sales in 2018, despite being closed every Sunday. Missing out on 14% of possible open business days likely cost the chain more than $1 billion, according to 24/7 Wall Street.
"Although McDonald's does not disclose traffic by day, there is evidence that the weekends are particularly busy, which means that it may post 15% of its sales on Sunday," Douglas A. McIntyre reported. "If Chick-fil-A has a similar traffic pattern, Sundays could bring in sales of at least $1.2 billion."
Read more: Chick-fil-A is taking over America by offering the best customer service in fast food
However, Chick-fil-A will likely never open on a Sunday.
"Closing our business on Sunday, the Lord's Day, is our way of honoring God and showing our loyalty to Him," Chick-fil-A's founder, Truett Cathy, wrote in his book "Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People."
Cathy continued: "My brother Ben and I closed our first restaurant on the first Sunday after we opened in 1946, and my children have committed to closing our restaurants on Sundays long after I'm gone. I believe God honors our decision and sets before us unexpected opportunities to do greater work for Him because of our loyalty."
In 2000, Cathy's children — including Dan Cathy, now the chain's CEO — pledged to uphold the company's commitment to closing on Sundays and to never take it public.
Why closing on Sundays pays off
Hollis Johnson/Business InsiderWhile Cathy's original reasoning was based on his Christian faith, closing on Sundays is also a brilliant business decision, experts say: It cements Chick-fil-A's reputation, benefits workers, and persuades customers to come back with a greater sense of urgency.
"They don't shy away from being family-focused, and they don't shy away from being mission-driven," Adam Chandler, who wrote "Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom," told Business Insider. "If there's one thing that everybody knows about Chick-fil-A, it is that it is closed on Sunday."
John Hamburger, the president of Franchise Times, described Chick-fil-A's decision to close on Sundays as a counterintuitive sales booster.
"Being open six days a week provides benefits to both the operators and the customers," Hamburger said. "The owner-operator gets the time off. 'Closed on Sunday' conveys a sense of caring and community to the customers."
Hamburger added that "being private means they can do the right thing, not the expedient Wall Street way of doing things."
And for customers, knowing that they can't get Chick-fil-A on Sundays helps drive them to visit the chain when it's open.
"It provides a sense of urgency — you better get to that restaurant today, because they're going to be closed on Sunday," said Mark Kalinowski, the founder of Kalinowski Equity Research. "I don't think the company designed it that way at all. But it's a call to action every single week."
HOUSTON, TEXAS - JULY 05: A Chick-fil-A restaurant is seen on July 05, 2022 in Houston, Texas. According to an annual survey produced by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Chick-fil-A has maintained its position as America's favorite restaurant for the eighth straight year in a row. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Labor Day is here and with it comes end up of summer get togethers and barbecues. But what if you want a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich?
While there is nothing wrong with enjoying those holiday barbecues and get togethers, sometimes you just want a chicken sandwich. And it doesn’t matter if that means a breakfast biscuit or a classic Chick-fil-A sandwich, because they have you covered either way.
But what about hitting up the restaurant on Labor Day? Considering they are always closed on a Sunday and there are definitely holidays that they close for, we wanted to know whether or not Labor Day was one of their official holidays where doors would remain closed.
Will Chick-fil-A be open on Labor Day?
In order to figure out if Chick-fil-A would be open on Labor Day, we looked to the past and previous years to determine if they would be open. This meant hitting up the restaurant’s holiday information page. And while they don’t seem to have that information up for 2022, they do still have their 2021 page up for us.
In 2021, Chick-fil-A was open on Labor Day, although they did operate under reduced hours. Based on this information, we can guess that they will once again be open for Labor Day.
However, just because we can expect Chick-fil-A to be open on Labor Day in 2022, we should definitely pay attention to the fact that last year most restaurants were only open from 10:30 AM until 6 PM (with some locations opening earlier or later). For Labor Day 2022, we definitely recommend calling ahead for your restaurant’s hours because it is very likely that they will do the same thing that they did last year and operate with reduced hours.
For even more Labor Day openings, closings, and hours, check out the rest of our holiday coverage on Guilty Eats.