In October 2015 when Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A opened its first free-standing restaurant in New York City, thousands flocked to the Garment District for the event.
Related: Chick-fil-A in New York: long lines, quizzical looks
Since then, the chain has added three more restaurants in New York, the fourth of which opened last month on Fulton Street.
By most accounts, New York has fully embraced the company’s mandate to “Eat Mor Chickin” but a recent story in New Yorker magazine has drawn the ire of proud Atlantans.
In the article titled, "Chick-fil-A's Creepy Infiltration of New York City" writer Dan Piepenbring suggests the presence of the brand in NYC feels like "an infiltration, in no small part because of its pervasive Christian traditionalism."
The writer points out the Bible verses adorning the Atlanta headquarters, the Sunday closing and C.E.O. Dan Cathy’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
The fact that no one in New York bothered to stage a protest at the opening of this newest location (there were a few protesters at the opening in 2015) raised questions for Piepenbring about what Americans should expect from fast food and the extent to which a corporation can join a community.
When a local posted the story on social media, it naturally raised the ire of Atlantans.
"Uptight New Yorker scoffs at Chick-fil-A" read the headline on the post. The piling on continued from there.
“A culture critic from Brooklyn that's elitist and negative about things that people in flyover states enjoy? Color me shocked,” wrote one user. A few others on the thread did chime in to correct the user’s statement that Georgia is a flyover state, but in general, everyone seemed to agree with his or her sentiments.
Many of the comments posted reminded everyone that despite Cathy’s personal beliefs, Chick-fil-A often comes to the aid of the local community -- even on Sunday.
“Let's not forget the times they worked on Sunday to help their communities, notably in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Community took precedence over any opinion regarding marriage equality,” wrote one user.
Some users did say they were bothered by the iconic Cow marketing campaign because it pits one species against another.
Others got a little sidetracked, taking the opportunity to lament the loss of the Spicy Chicken Biscuit from the menu. It was discontinued in 2016 and is available only in select restaurants.
One bored user spent several minutes enticing the Chick-fil-A spelling bot by intentionally misspelling the brand name over and over.
It was difficult to tell if locals were more disgusted by the attack on a homegrown brand or just New York in general.
At least one user settled on an eye-for-an-eye response with a look back in time at New Yorker magazine, writing, “Remember that the New Yorker called the 1996 Olympics the ‘Bubba Games’ and put a picture of an obese farmer wearing nothing but coveralls, holding a pig in one arm and an Olympic torch in the other, on the cover of a July 1996 issue. It's an unapologetically smug publication with writers who have always looked down their noses at almost anywhere outside of NYC.”
About the Author
