When Rev. Jonathan Winn opens a Chick-fil-A restaurant in West Toledo on Thursday (Nov. 29), he’ll be relying a great deal on his previous job experience -- as a pastor.
Running a Chick-fil-A restaurant has much in common with being a pastor at an evangelical church, if the restaurant chain’s “corporate purpose” is an indication: “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
Winn, who is the operator of the new franchise opening at the busy intersection of Sylvania Avenue and Talmadge Road, recited the corporate purpose by heart and also pointed out that the company’s “second-mile service” policy is taken directly from the Bible.
“It’s a biblical principle taken straight out of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount,” he said, citing Matthew 5:41: “‘If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.’”
Winn, 34, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., graduated with a double major in Bible and business from Cedarville University, a Christian university in southwest Ohio.
That’s where he met his wife, Krista.
Toledo became a meeting place for the two students when school was out, and Winn has fond memories of his new hometown.
“Toledo is halfway between Grand Rapids and Columbus, Ohio, where Krista is from. We would meet in Toledo, go to the zoo, go eat at what was then the Navy Bistro. We ended up getting engaged three years later at Maumee Bay State Park,” he said.
After college, Winn was hired as a minister at Maranatha Bible Church in Akron, Ohio, serving as pastor of the college and young adult ministry. He is ordained through the nondenominational church.
“I ended up doing that for eight years plus,” Winn said. “Then the church got really big really, really fast. My job got to being in front of the community, speaking in front of large groups of people and working in administration overseeing the staff.”
As his job responsibilities changed, he said, he and his wife – who have three children ages 5, 3 and 1 -- decided to “transition out to have a bigger impact in the city.”
He applied to be a franchise operator for Chick-fil-A, despite daunting odds.
The company receives about 20,000 applications every year from people who want to open a franchise, according the company’s website. But the privately owned corporation, which has 1,600 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia, opens just 65 to 70 new restaurants per year. And only about 5 percent of franchise operators leave the company annually.
Last year Chick-fil-A reported record sales of $4 billion, and 2011 also marked the 44th consecutive year that sales have grown since the company was founded in 1967.
Winn was first awarded a franchise in Canton, which he ran for three years before taking the opportunity run the free-standing Chick-fil-A in Toledo, next to Westfield Franklin Park Mall.
The restaurant will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, serving breakfast (until 10:30 a.m.), lunch and dinner. Like all Chick-fil-A’s, it will be closed on Sundays.
The new restaurant will have two drive-throughs, a children’s play area, and indoor seating for 134 people. (The Chick-fil-A that has been operating inside Westfield Franklin Park Mall for 20 years will remain open.)
“I hired close to 100 people here, and probably half of those are full-time positions,” Winn said of the new restaurant. “Our strategy is to make sure the restaurant is excellently run, with the best fast food in the city, the best staff in the city, the cleanest facility in the city. That’s what Chick-fil-A’s do.”
Going the second-mile covers everything from “helping moms get their trays out to the table” to “refreshing beverages for free,” Winn said.
Mike Herrick, who operated the restaurant inside the mall before opening a free-standing Chick-fil-A in Perrysburg on Nov. 1, said that when it comes to getting a customer’s order right, the restaurant’s tolerance for error is “zero.”
“You could have the best food, the best building, the cleanest facility and the friendliest staff, but if you get someone’s order wrong, that’s all they’re going to remember about their visit,” Herrick said.
Winn said the controversy that erupted last summer over a statement on marriage by Dan Cathy, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A, Inc., was the result of a misunderstanding.
“What the president was sharing was his personal view, what his family view was, and not necessarily the view of everyone who works at Chick-fil-A. It’s not part of corporate policy,” Winn said. “The backlash seems like a pretty large media frenzy based on misinformation.”
Cathy, the son of Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy, had said in an interview that the company is “very much supporting of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit.”
That comment stirred protests from advocates of same-sex marriage, and a show of support from political pundit Mike Huckabee, who urged Chick-fil-A supporters to show up in force at the restaurant on Aug. 1. Lines at the Toledo restaurant stretched outside the mall as people waited for hours to be served that day.
“The great part was that Chick-fil-A was able to use that controversy as a stage to get out there and impact as many people as possible,” Winn said. “It was a record-settting day.”
Even though Winn has left full-time ministry, he is still an ordained minister.
“I am licensed to do weddings and I preached at the wedding of two of my employees in Canton not long ago,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Chick-fil-A at 4260 W. Sylvania Avenue will hold its “First 100 Celebration,” a corporate policy since 2003 in which the first 100 customers 18 and over will receive a one-year supply of free Chick-fil-A meals (in the form of 52 free-meal certificates). The line officially forms at 6 a.m. Wednesday with free meal cards being distributed at 6 a.m. Thursday (Nov. 29).
For Winn, his goal is not just to serve people chicken sandwiches, salads and peppermint-chocolate-chip shakes.
“We make sure we’re making emotional connections in the community,” he said. “We are leveraging our food and using our little restaurant here as a stage where people can be encouraged and welcomed and valued.”
Jay | Nov 27, 2012 | 4:57pm
This article attempts to gloss neatly over the Chick-fil-A same sex marriage controversy by writing it off as a ‘misunderstanding.’ In doing so, the article reads as extremely biased. Allow me to clarify: those who protested Chick-fil-A were not angry just because of one man’s personal bigoted views, though it’s a shame he feels the need to pass judgement on fellow human beings. Still, that wasn’t the issue! The issue was that Cathy’s comments led to the realization that Chick-fil-A’s charity endeavor (the WinShape Foundation) was giving MILLIONS of dollars to groups that actively promote anti-gay legislation and discrimination and foster hateful homophobia.
When consumers find out that a major brand name fashion company is using child labor, they often react strongly and demand change. Likewise, when consumers find out that the dollars they spend on unhealthy chicken sandwiches are being used to dehumanize fellow Americans and promote hate and homophobia, they might object. As consumers, we have a choice to spend our money on Chick-fil-A, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds, or a host of other fast food joints that offer a chicken sandwich, so why would we choose Chick-fil-A if we know the company (I repeat the COMPANY, not just one man within in) supports something to which we object? The answer is that, in this case, we don’t have to spend our dollars on something we don’t believe in, so we don’t.
At the polls this past November, Americans stood unequivocally for LGBT rights. The choice of some people to boycott Chick-fil-A was just another way of voting for equality (voting with our dollars). The controversy may have caused homophobes to hit the streets for one day, but it also caused an untold number of people to think twice before choosing to set foot in a Chick-fil-A, not just for one day, but EVERY DAY. If the effects of that ‘record breaking day’ were so wonderful and positive for the company, why was it forced to go into damage-control mode? If people supported the use of their dollars to spread hate, the company wouldn’t have had to release statements reassuring customers that Chick-fil-A dollars will not go to anti-gay organizations.
So to clear things up, Dan Cathy can think whatever he wants. He has the freedom to express those views in this country. He can even use his company to spread his beliefs. But I can also choose to raise a ruckus about it and not to spend my money at this company. If this leads to a so-called ‘media frenzy,’ so be it. We could use more ‘media frenzies’ in support of human rights.
Best of luck to Rev. Winn. I hope that he can help foster a culture of acceptance at Chick-Fil-A. Fast food makes you feel sick enough on its own; it doesn’t need to come with a side of hate.
David Yonke | Nov 27, 2012 | 7:02pm
Dear Jay, thank you for your thoughtful and civil comment on a topic that often generates strong emotions. You are correct in saying that my article did not go into depth on the topic of WinShape Foundation donations. The company has posted a four-page PDF explanation of its donation policies and history online, and you can read it here: http://bit.ly/Sa2Sad I don.‘t expect it will change anyone’s minds but it is worth a look to get Chick-fil-A’s side of the story. Thanks again for reading and posting your comment.
PastorLuke | Dec 4, 2012 | 2:28pm
I am with you Jay. A Biblical definition of ‘the family’ is laughable and ultimately unsupported by scripture. Here’s a neat little blogpost that outlines what a biblical family unit can consist of. As for Chick-fil-a, they have some good things going for them but their actions prove that not everyone is welcome. The “personal views” of the CEO was an accident where the truth came out on the corporate behavior of this company. I demand better. I will shop and eat elsewhere.
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