Not Fast Food

Restrooms are important. Especially restaurant restrooms.

They are the view into the soul of the restaurant. With a click glance inside a restroom you can discover how the management runs the operation, how important "cleanliness" is to the staff and how important the restaurant views your experience.

Sometimes you get lucky.

You get lucky when you walk in a restroom and notice that there is a little something extra. This could either be: cloth towels, mouth wash, lotion, moisturizing soup, great music, or really cool sinks.

Suddenly, going to the restroom has turned from an everyday necessity into a memorable experience. So memorable that it's likely you remember the last time you were in a really great restroom, and you remember restaurants that have a nice restroom.

I know that Bahama Breeze, Bonefish Grill, and Lee Roy Selmon's all have amazing restrooms. They have something extra - mouth wash, cloth towels, or lotion.



You may be surprised to found out that the picture above is the restroom at my local Chick-Fil-A.

You're probably thinking the same thing I was when I walked in. "What is Chick-Fil-A doing putting out Kleenex, Mouth Wash and lotion in the restroom?"

The answer is that they are pushing the envelope, filling the gap and moving farther away from fast food and closing in on an entirely new category. All of the restaurants I mentioned above with amazing restrooms cost between $15-$20 a person to eat there. Chick-Fil-A costs around $7.

The restrooms weren't the only remarkable thing that happened to us at Chick-Fil-A earlier this week. We also got served. I don't mean just over the counter service when they took our order. I mean once we sat down and started eating employees came over to us to ask if we wanted refills, or could take our trays.

This "service" didn't just happen once. They came by 4 times......AND we weren't the only table they were visiting. The "server" refilled my drink 2 times.

The service, restroom, and overall experience I had at Chick-Fil-A was better than the experience I have had a lot more expensive, overpriced restaurants.

What did it take for the management to implement this? Not much. Maybe $15 in products for the restroom and simple training for the staff to "walk" the dining room. However, the impact it had on the guests was truly priceless.

Every time I visit Chick-Fil-A they continue to surprise and impress me. They are no longer a regular fast food place. They are something entirely different and if I was Panera, Moe's, or Chipotle...I would be scared.