Thomasville Chick-fil-A sets record

Published 5:54 pm Thursday, August 2, 2012

In order to serve a tidal wave of customers on Wednesday, Thomasville Chick-fil-A owner Mike Zolt had to enlist reinforcements  — his family.

“They were here 10 hours. They came thinking they were only going to stay for three,” Zolt said. “They ended up not leaving until we closed.”

Zolt’s wife, Tracy, and two sons, Parker, 12, and Zack, 15, arrived at Chick-fil-A at 10 a.m., as the business was already booming with patrons.

The increase was due to Aug. 1 being designated as Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day by former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee. Devoted fans of Chick-fil-A flocked to the popular fast-food chain in support of Chick-fil-A and President Dan Cathy. Cathy recently voiced his opposition to same-sex marriage, drawing the ire of mayors from Boston and Chicago who said Chick-fil-A would not be permitted to open restaurants in their cities.

Lines were forming out the Chick-fil-A doors around the country and in Thomasville where Zolt reported a record-setting day. Chick-fil-A doesn’t reveal exact sales figures

The Thomasville business prepared for the increase in sales by ordering more food for Wednesday. It still ran at 8 p.m. It had to turn away hungry guests, though, they weren’t too upset about it.

“They were all excited about it,” Zolt said. “Everybody that I had talked to that we had (to turn away), they said, ‘That’s wonderful. We’re happy. We just wanted to support you. That’s a great thing that you ran out of food.’

“It’s funny. There was a youth group in here when we were closing. Every time we ran out of a product, they would start cheering.”

See Friday’s edition for more details.