Ejected from Turkey Creek Chick-Fil-A

ppardue1 · Aug 1, 2012

Today I went to Chick-Fil-A to get some “hate chicken.” I arrived at the Knoxville, Turkey Creek location at about 5:30 and the line was almost out the door. I was able to order within 10 minutes and then began to wait. With the number of orders there, the average wait time was about 30 to 45 minutes. After about 45 minutes of waiting inside the store I was approached by an employee of some fashion (I did not ascertain the rank of the employee) and was told that he knew that carrying a gun was perfectly legal and that Chick-Fil-A did not allow that. He told me to go outside and he would bring me my food.

I, of course, told him that I would not take my food outside and that I wanted my meal to be refunded. He took my receipt and credited me and I promptly left. On the way out I advised my two friends who were concealing to get refunds as well. For some strange reason, they were not asked to leave. :banana: I am in the process of writing the obligatory letter to the store for clarification on the incident (trying to discuss it there would have been fruitless as the level of traffic in the store was incredible). I will update here when I receive a reply.

MKEgal · Aug 1, 2012

Gee, they really like their 1A rights.
Wonder why they aren't so hot on other people's rights?
Not the first time, won't be the last.

Nascar24Glock · Aug 2, 2012

ppardue1 said:
Today I went to Chick-Fil-A to get some “hate chicken.” I arrived at the Knoxville, Turkey Creek location at about 5:30 and the line was almost out the door. I was able to order within 10 minutes and then began to wait. With the number of orders there, the average wait time was about 30 to 45 minutes. After about 45 minutes of waiting inside the store I was approached by an employee of some fashion (I did not ascertain the rank of the employee) and was told that he knew that carrying a gun was perfectly legal and that Chick-Fil-A did not allow that. He told me to go outside and he would bring me my food.

I, of course, told him that I would not take my food outside and that I wanted my meal to be refunded. He took my receipt and credited me and I promptly left. On the way out I advised my two friends who were concealing to get refunds as well. For some strange reason, they were not asked to leave. :banana: I am in the process of writing the obligatory letter to the store for clarification on the incident (trying to discuss it there would have been fruitless as the level of traffic in the store was incredible). I will update here when I receive a reply.

Hmmm, that's strange. I've open carried in two different Chick-Fil-A's before (the one on East Stone Drive in Kingsport, and the one off Exit 19 in Johnson City near Best Buy). On the first one, I even dined in and was therefore in the restaurant for at least 30 minutes. Nobody in either location made a single peep about it or even appeared to notice it (and, given that my handgun is pitch black, it's hard to miss when I'm wearing a white shirt).

I suspect you got a rogue store or even a rogue employee (not that it should matter, but the fact that it was crowded, especially if one of them complained, was probably a contributing factor). Check with corporate and let me know what you find out.

hjmoosejaw · Aug 2, 2012

Looking forward to your update.

davidmcbeth · Aug 2, 2012

MKEgal said:
Gee, they really like their 1A rights.
Wonder why they aren't so hot on other people's rights?
Not the first time, won't be the last.

Should have asked them "what are you, chicken?"

Yeah, I loooove people who yammer about 1st amendment rights but shut the heck up about other ones...

ppardue1 · Aug 4, 2012

Utter silence in my inbox....

Then, of course, I am betting that they are using the mass delete button on most of their email correspondance right now. I might have to just try again in a few weeks or call.

pfries · Aug 4, 2012

One of the reasons I made these,

Utah_Patriot · Aug 4, 2012

Had no issues here in Utah what's so ever must be site specific

Questions 8014487574

MR Redenck · Aug 4, 2012

Maybe Chicburger will decide to go starbucks with the second amendment right. :dude:
Could you imagine how much money chickburger will make if they go Patriotic to the whole Constitution????
I dont eat chicburgers or any fast food to speak of, but if I wanted to, I would have to stop in for a visit.

4sooth · Aug 4, 2012

Chick-Fil-A Policy

My wife manages a Chick-Fil-A. The corporate policy is to follow the law/laws of the state in which the store is located. Call/e-mail them and explain what happened and ask them to contact the store in question and inform them of the policy. No employee where my wife works has the authority to ask a customer to leave--period. I would think it is so with all of the stores. The employee was blowing smoke. Next time ask for the operator (owner) and explain to him you are aware of the corporate policy. Explain the law to him and ask him to call and verify this. Then ask him to have the employee in question come forward. Once the guy is there ask the manager to dismiss him for assuming authority he does not and will not have. This should scare the guy into being more careful in the future.

OngoingFreedom · Aug 5, 2012

OC'd in the Gallatin store and got the MOST looks I have ever seen. One hour wait for my delicious hate chicken and no problems. I even had a guy walk up to me and said, "You're my hero! Family values AND the second amendment!"

That chicken tasted real good.

ppardue1 · Aug 6, 2012

4sooth said:
My wife manages a Chick-Fil-A. The corporate policy is to follow the law/laws of the state in which the store is located. Call/e-mail them and explain what happened and ask them to contact the store in question and inform them of the policy. No employee where my wife works has the authority to ask a customer to leave--period. I would think it is so with all of the stores. The employee was blowing smoke. Next time ask for the operator (owner) and explain to him you are aware of the corporate policy. Explain the law to him and ask him to call and verify this. Then ask him to have the employee in question come forward. Once the guy is there ask the manager to dismiss him for assuming authority he does not and will not have. This should scare the guy into being more careful in the future.

Thanks for letting me know. I have yet to receive any sort of reply to my emails so tomorrow I will make a few phone calls starting with corporate. Do I understand correctly that I should call corporate, let them sort it out, and then only meet with the operator if I have problems again or did you mean to do both? I'll admit my ignorance with dealing with such situations, I have never been asked to leave anywhere because of my gun until this.

Kedric · Aug 6, 2012

Definitely keep us updated. I think you were right, they are mass deleting emails at the moment probably. Get someone on the phone and a bit of calm rational discussion should help them see the error of their ways!

ppardue1 · Aug 6, 2012

Wow, I couldn't even get a person on the phone. They are only accepting voice messages. I guess it is "hurry up and wait."

F350 · Aug 6, 2012

My guess--Some pimple faced little looser who was told he was doing a great job and told he was now shift lead (instead of a raise) and now thinks he runs the place. Look around the counter area and see if it is a franchise, there is likely owner contact info, corp right now will be a waist of time.

ppardue1 · Aug 6, 2012

Alright, I just got a call from CFA corporate. The representative told me that they do not have any policy regarding firearms. I probed further asking explicitly if they allowed the individual locations to make their own policy and was told that, yes, they allowed that. The representative told me that they were going to contact the Turkey Creek location and have them contact me.

Stay tuned for further updates.

4sooth · Aug 6, 2012

Firearms policy

ppardue1 Whoever told you that was wrong. Let me do some digging around and I will let you know what I find.

ppardue1 · Aug 13, 2012

Alright, I got a call from the Turkey Creek location's owner this morning. The owner said that two people (out of 100+ there that day) complained about "the man with the gun." He told me that he supported gun ownership, but that he had to keep his doors open and turn a profit. I understand, I guess, that money means more to some than their natural rights (or, conversely, that some natural rights are worthless to some people) even though I think that his calculus (on an apparent 2%) is wrong.

I quoted T.C.A. 39-17-1359 in my letter to both him and to CFA corporate. He told me that he had gone and "read up" on the law and would be posting. I will probably take some heat for this but it might be for the best as we can know, up front, that we are not welcome.

Fallguy · Aug 14, 2012

ppardue1 said:
Alright, I got a call from the Turkey Creek location's owner this morning. The owner said that two people (out of 100+ there that day) complained about "the man with the gun." He told me that he supported gun ownership, but that he had to keep his doors open and turn a profit. I understand, I guess, that money means more to some than their natural rights (or, conversely, that some natural rights are worthless to some people) even though I think that his calculus (on an apparent 2%) is wrong.

I quoted T.C.A. 39-17-1359 in my letter to both him and to CFA corporate. He told me that he had gone and "read up" on the law and would be posting. I will probably take some heat for this but it might be for the best as we can know, up front, that we are not welcome.

Well it doesn't sound like we are not welcomed by him or corporate, but a couple of people that may never be there again.

However if he post per the law, then yes, none of us can legally carry there OC or CC period.

I understand contacting them and trying to get clarificaion, but if a place doesn't have a sign of some type already advising a place of the posting law usually isn't a good idea.

carolina guy · Aug 14, 2012

Fallguy said:
Well it doesn't sound like we are not welcomed by him or corporate, but a couple of people that may never be there again.

However if he post per the law, then yes, none of us can legally carry there OC or CC period.

I understand contacting them and trying to get clarificaion, but if a place doesn't have a sign of some type already advising a place of the posting law usually isn't a good idea.

I have seen quite a few threads that suggest never advising the owner/manager of a business to read the law and follow the law...but isn't that actually bad advice? If the owner/manager (with the support of "corporate") expresses a firm desire to not allow OC/CC on their property, is there really any point in making it so that other OC/CC people might have trouble via the lack of "proper notice" in the future?

I say, better that they take their "scarlet letter" and post their anti-2A stance publicly. It is their right to control their property, and it is our right to be notified properly so we can take our business elsewhere with out unnecessary hassles with local LE. This is suppressing someone's property and 1A rights in favor of your 2A rights. Better to keep the high road.

Ejected from Turkey Creek Chick-Fil-A

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