Foothills milestone: Chick-fil-A celebrates 25 years in Maryville, 15 under Stafford

By Rick Laney
of The Daily Times Staff

When the Foothills Mall opened its doors for the first time in March 1983, the Chick-fil-A restaurant was there -- and, other than the anchor stores, it's one of the few original operations in the mall that is still there today.

For 25 years Chick-fil-A has served hungry Foothills Mall shoppers its popular chicken menu items, including the original chicken sandwich, and for 15 years the store has been under the management of Jason Stafford.

Stafford, a 1992 graduate of Maryville High School, started working part-time at Chick-fil-A in Foothills Mall in April 1993 while attending Pellissippi State Technical Community College. He became a manager about nine months later.

"I was taking classes at Pellissippi State, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do," Stafford said. "After working here for a while, I realized that I had a knack for it -- so I stayed on after I graduated."

Stafford attributes the success of the Foothills Mall Chick-fil-A to the people who work there and their attitude toward customers.

"Our employees are why we have raving fans," Stafford said. "We train them to treat people the way they would want to be treated if they were the customer.

"We try to remember people -- both their names and what they order.

"The food here is great, but the employees drive the bus."

In October 2001, Stafford became an "owner/operator" for Chick-fil-A. While the chain does not franchise in the traditional sense, Chick-fil-A managers have the ability to invest $5,000 in their restaurant and qualify for profit sharing from that specific location.

"Chick-fil-A is a great company," Stafford said. "To be a $2 billion dollar privately held company and resist the pressure to go public is pretty special."

Special times

Stafford says he has seen many amazing happenings during his time with the restaurant. The Foothills Mall Chick-fil-A restaurant was the meeting place for four marriages -- including Stafford's own to his wife, Rachel, who was a manager at the same time as he was. The restaurant also awarded $42,000 in scholarships to Blount County teens to help them further their education.

Chick-fil-A said that Stafford is not the only "success story" to come out of its Foothills Mall location. Eight other employees from the mall restaurant have gone on to run Chick-fil-A restaurants of their own as owner/operators, and one former employee now works at Chick-fil-A's headquarters in Atlanta.

To celebrate the restaurant's 25th anniversary, Stafford is having a special event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. During the celebration, customers can submit their receipts to enter to win free Chick-fil-A for a year. There will be 25 winners selected each hour.

Stafford says he will also "roll back prices" on the original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich and Coca-Cola to the original 1993 prices - $1.25 for a sandwich and 75-cents for the drink. The festivities also include games, prizes and a complimentary slice of anniversary cake for each customer.

Staying in town

Stafford, who lives in Maryville with his wife and three children, said, "This is it for me. I just don't see myself ever doing anything else."

Truett Cathy started the company in 1946 when he opened the Dwarf Grill in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville, Ga. In 1967, Truett opened the first Chick-fil-A in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall. Now headquartered in Atlanta, Chick-fil-A Inc. says it is the nation's second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain (based on sales), with more than 1,375 restaurants in 37 states and Washington D.C.

In 2007, Chick-fil-A produced record sales of $2.64 billion -- a 16.09 percent overall increase and an 8.47 percent same-store sales gain that helped extend the chain's streak of consecutive sales gains to 40 years.

The Foothills Mall Chick-fil-A is open from 9:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and serves breakfast daily until 10:30 a.m. All Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on Sunday.