Chick-fil-A is a nearly $3 billion company that is arguably one of the best-run in the restaurant business, with average unit sales that are well above most of its rivals. Yet the Atlanta-based chain of some 1,400 restaurants does share one thing in common with other fast-food chains: each and every day, it places its fortunes squarely in the hands of tens of thousands of 16- to 23-year-olds.

And it used to tear up senior managers at the company to watch these young employees arrive at work with their uniform in a gym bag, then change in the restroom.

“Several years ago, we surveyed thousands of our team members, and uniforms were in the top three factors of dissatisfaction for our team,” says Woody Faulk, Chick-fil-A’s vice president for brand development.

“We were using a uniform that was generic and unisex,” says Purchasing Supervisor Brenda Dixon, also part of the team that made the uniform decision for Chick-fil-A. “It didn’t really speak to the retail team members.”

With employee turnover costs sky-high for the fast-food industry, Faulk adds, “if we can keep our associates on the payroll for even one more month, the savings are tremendous.”

Transforming a “commodity”

In the early days of the quick-service restaurant industry, uniforms were treated as just another purchasing decision; they were bought the same way as flour, eggs or other ingredients. “It was a commodity product, and the question was, how can we land it at the lowest cost,” Faulk says. “There was a standardized look to fast food.”
There also is a standardized “look” to the service customers receive in fast-food restaurants, and Chick-fil-A was determined to exceed expectations in this area. That’s why in 2005, the chain created its “Second Mile Service” initiative, a Biblical reference to going above and beyond by carrying something an extra mile when someone asks you to carry it one mile. Chick-fil-A’s focus on “Second Mile Service” encouraged associates to help customers by carrying their trays of food to tables, checking to see if they need any condiments or other supplies, or clearing away trays at the end of a meal.

Chick-fil-A determined that redesigned uniforms would enable associates to provide these higher levels of service. The Second Mile Service initiative, along with the results of the employee survey, helped Chick-fil-A realize it needed to have “a whole different feel and attitude” about uniforms, Faulk says. That’s when the company brought uniform decision-making out of the purchasing department and created an apparel team to search for new solutions. “The people wearing these garments are younger and more fashion-conscious,” Faulk says, “so we had to be more fashion-forward. That’s when we made the decision to go and find good-looking designs.”

The chain considered several options at this point, including hiring its own designer and contracting for the manufacture and distribution of its uniforms – an alternative deemed too expensive. Chick-fil-A also looked at several of the large uniform companies, “safe bets” that could provide some “calm and reassurance” for Chick-fil-A in its search for a new look, Faulk says. But the chain opted not to go this route, he adds, because the team felt that these providers had ceased being innovative, especially in the area of design.

Ready with the right answer

Chick-fil-A found the solution to its uniform dilemma thanks, at least in part, to one of the chain’s franchisees in Boone, NC. He had always been impressed with a line of outdoor clothing from a Greenville, SC company called OOBE, whose clothing was durable, lightweight and comfortable. “This is what we need for our uniforms,” he told his area manager.

At about the same time, OOBE was one of several companies selling apparel to a promotional products distributor that worked with Chick-fil-A, and OOBE’s apparel products sold better than anyone else’s.

Those endorsements eventually made their way to Chick-fil-A headquarters in Atlanta, and a team from OOBE got a meeting with Faulk. He liked the clothing, too; “OOBE has a knack for style,” he says. But having already ruled out a number of other top uniform manufacturers, Faulk needed to be convinced. “Why should we have OOBE do our uniforms?” he asked Tom Merritt, one of the principals of the company.

“Because we’re not a uniform company,” Merritt replied. “We’re a retail design and apparel company – we’re brand specialists. We’re going to be different.”

As he reflects on that response now, Merritt realizes it was exactly what Chick-fil-A wanted to hear. “They wanted to rise above the usual uniforms found in so many quick-service restaurants,” Merritt says. “Chick-fil-A is not your typical QSR, and it wanted a uniform to match. It was a defining moment for our company.”

The official apparel of Chick-fil-A

It could turn out to be a defining moment for Chick-fil-A as well. The wardrobe OOBE designed for the chain includes men’s pants (to waist size 60 in four inseam lengths), women’s pants (sizes 0 to 36), belts, headwear and outerwear, plus some uniform items new to Chick-fil-A, including socks and undergarments such as T-shirts. There also is a full line of woven shirts, ties, vests and sweaters in both men’s and ladies’ styles for Chick-fil-A store managers.

But the foundation of the new uniform is the Tech Polo, an updated cousin of OOBE’s FLOG (GOLF spelled backwards) performance shirt, one of the signature items in OOBE’s retail sportswear line. This 100% poly waffle knit shirt is an expert at wicking moisture, and also features both antimicrobial and 3M Scotchgard stain-release finishes. The shirts are lightweight and comfortable, yet durable.

But Chick-fil-A wasn’t about to take OOBE’s word for it; they first subjected the shirts to a rigorous test drive. “They took every condiment they make and squirted them on the shirts, wrapped them in plastic and put them in the trunk of someone’s car for a few hours. Then they popped them into a clothes dryer on high heat for 10 minutes,” says Jeff Taylor, uniform programs director for OOBE.

Then they washed the shirts.

“They came out looking great,” Taylor says. In many restaurant uniform programs, he adds, shirts must be replaced once they become stained. “This was proof that we had extended the life span of the garments to at least double what they had experienced previously. Too often, people don’t look at turnover, the life span of the shirt and how it resists fading and stains when they consider ROI on a [uniform] program.”

The fit of the apparel was engineered by OOBE’s lead designer, Nancy Harding, whose team spent a lot of time talking to associates about the variety of tasks they do. That information was used to engineer the shirts. “They wanted shirts tucked in, and their associates do a lot of bending and stretching, so the uniform fit had to be more generous than our retail fit,” she says. “They also wanted the look to be ‘modern but modest,’ which means slightly longer skirts and shirttails. They needed to look cool, but they didn’t want any skin showing when team members bend over or stretch.”

OOBE remained true to its branding expertise, adds Brand Steward Chris Roberts, wrapping up the entire wardrobe under the umbrella of Chick-fil-A TEAMSTYLE, the official apparel of Chick-fil-A. The brand is enforced by hang tags on every garment.

Time to deliver

From an apparel design standpoint, Chick-fil-A loved the fact that OOBE was not a traditional uniform company. But that strength could also become a liability when it came to fulfillment of the uniform program – ensuring that Chick-fil-A’s 55,000 associates have the right uniform in the right place at the right time. OOBE had never handled an account of that size before.

“Our total revenues as a company were less than the amount they were going to spend on uniforms in the first six months of the contract,” says OOBE President Toby Stansell. “The apparel is a given, but it has to be on the person’s back the day they start, or it’s worthless. We had to deliver a great game – not just talk one.”
For OOBE, that meant heavy investments in technology and other infrastructure to meet Chick-fil-A’s fulfillment requirements. For example, OOBE went from one server to 12 almost overnight, and developed a Web site for uniforms ordering that could be bolted onto the back end of Chick-fil-A’s own site; now, 65% of uniform orders are placed online.

Convinced that OOBE was the right uniform partner, Chick-fil-A offered patience in other elements of customer service. “Chick-fil-A had asked for a 1:30 p.m. cut-off on orders, but they knew we weren’t there yet, so when the initial agreement was signed in 2005, they allowed us to have a noon order cutoff,” says Merritt.
“We have a responsibility to be good stewards of our operators’ time,” says Chick-fil-A’s Faulk, “so we had to have contingencies if [OOBE] could not deliver or one of their suppliers fell through. It was not an easy decision. There were a few components that had to be tweaked, but they threw everything they had at it and worked through those challenges.”

OOBE had sufficiently resolved its production and distribution issues so that when the contract was renewed a year later for three more years, the cutoff did move to 1:30 – and Merritt says OOBE has delivered on that benchmark, as well as exceeded the 98% target for order accuracy, completeness and on-time delivery. At one point earlier this spring, Chick-fil-A went more than 10 consecutive weeks without a core uniform item on backorder. Now, the OOBE team is working to push the order cutoff back even further – to 3 p.m.
Wearing the uniform to work

When Chick-fil-A’s new uniforms were first rolled out, Purchasing Supervisor Brenda Dixon made sure she was in the field to observe. “I watched team members arrive at work in their uniforms, and that’s when I knew we had it, she says. “It was a home run in terms of employee morale.”

Faulk says the new uniforms are comfortable and keep associates cooler. “They like the colors, too; they don’t feel ‘commercialized,’” he adds. “They feel good about themselves and about their decision to work here, and that translates into the way they carry themselves. People were walking taller [with the new uniforms].”

Second Mile service scores also reflected a new attitude on the part of Chick-fil-A team members. “Our scores for courteous and attentive service picked up once the new uniforms were in place,” Faulk says, “and operators told us they loved the look.”

Chick-fil-A’s step of faith in selecting OOBE has had a transforming effect on the company. “Chick-fil-A has made us better,” says Roberts. “To us, this is a tremendous opportunity to move forward in this [uniforms] space. They consider us to be part of their family, and that’s a real honor.”

For more detail on the new Chick-Fil-A uniform program, go to www.uniformsmag.com