Chick-fil-A’s closed policy on Sundays sparks a freeway calm riot
Kelli Bogacz had just spent a week camping in the Adirondack Mountains, and as she and her husband made the five-hour drive back to Buffalo, all they wanted to do was get something to eat.
Midway through their trip, an oasis appeared: Chittenango Travel Plaza, a newly renovated rest stop off Interstate 90 just east of Syracuse. But as they pulled their pickup and 24-foot camper into the parking lot, they sensed there was a problem.
It was a Sunday afternoon last August. The only restaurant inside the rest area was a Chick-fil-A. And as anyone remotely familiar with the American fast food landscape knows, Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays.
“So it was useless,” said Ms. Bogacz, 54, a sixth-grade teacher. “Completely useless.”
The 27 rest areas along the 560-mile New York Thruway are now being systematically renovated as part of a $450 million private investment plan. The project, which started two years ago, has created brand new facilities and a host of new businesses, like Shake Shack, Panda Express and, yes, Chick-fil-A.
But the developments have left some motorists, like Ms. Bogacz, frustrated and hungry — and now New York lawmakers have taken up their case, questioning why many of the state’s rest stops now have a restaurant that famously closed on one of the busiest places in the state. travel days of the week.
This month, lawmakers introduced a new bill that would require restaurants in service areas along the Thruway to be open seven days a week. The proposal, like many things involving Chick-fil-A, has caused a minor political firestorm, with critics accusing state Democratic lawmakers of trying to force the chicken chain to upend its values.
The lawmakers say they are not targeting Chick-fil-A, which has often sparked controversy because of the conservative Christian values of its chairman, Dan T. Cathy, who has publicly opposed gay marriage. They just want to keep the drivers fed.
“If they are closed on one of the busiest travel days of the week, they are not serving the public as they should,” Emma Johnson, spokeswoman for MP Tony Simone, who introduced the bill, said of the rest stop restaurants.
The issue dates back to 2021, when the New York State Thruway Authority invited bids for the right to operate its 27 service areas. The eventual winner was Applegreen, an Irish convenience store conglomerate, which pledged to fund a $450 million renovation plan and in return received a 33-year contract to manage the locations.
The renovated rest areas will reopen one by one, to mixed reviews: While some facilities are winning praise for their makeovers, others are dogged by complaints about cramped hallways and inadequate bathrooms.
Applegreen has opened seven Chick-fil-A restaurants at rest areas along the Thruway so far as part of the project, with three more to follow soon.
Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for the Thruway Authority, said the contract required Applegreen to offer at least one hot and cold food option 24 hours a day at all service plazas. She noted that the Chittenango Travel Plaza (where the Bogacz family was forced to skip lunch) was the only one of the 27 establishments where Chick-fil-A was the only restaurant option. (Chittenango also has a Starbucks coffee shop.)
She also pointed out that selecting specific restaurants was not the authority’s responsibility.
“Those restaurant contracts are with Applegreen,” she said. “They determine their own tenant plan.”
In a statement, an Applegreen spokesperson said the company aims to “offer a range of food brands to give customers choice.” Regarding the rest stops at Chick-fil-A restaurants, he added: “Alternative hot and cold food options are always available at each of these 10 locations, seven days a week, 24 hours a day to ensure that the our customers’ needs are met. Met.”
The bill has angered those who think lawmakers are trying to force Chick-fil-A to open on Sundays. This changes a policy the company has had since 1946, according to its website, allowing employees to rest and “worship if they wish.” ”
“This is war,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina wrote on X last week in support of the chicken chain, as news of the bill began circulating on social media. He threatened to introduce legislation that would withhold federal funds from any state or city that required Chick-fil-A to operate on Sundays.
On Wednesday, Senator Graham continued in New York, posing for photos at a Chick-fil-A in Manhattan and criticizing the bill during an appearance on Fox News.
But the bill would not actually force Chick-fil-A to open on Sundays.
As written, the bill only applies to “all future contracts for food concessions at transportation facilities owned by the Thruway Authority, as well as the Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey.” The sponsors confirmed Wednesday that this meant Thruway’s seven Chick-fil-A restaurants — and any additional locations Applegreen opens under the current contract — could remain closed on Sundays even if the law were passed.
The sponsors acknowledged that they were not fans of the chain or its social views. But they said in this case they were more concerned about protecting rest areas as a public good.
“We’re not talking about businesses on the corner of Main Street,” said Sen. Michelle Hinchey, who introduced a version of the bill in the Senate. “We’re talking about restaurants on the Thruway that are intended to be open to provide food and nutrition, fast food or otherwise, when we need it.”
Ms. Hinchey, who represents a rural district bisected by the Thruway, said her constituents were excited about the renovation project. But she had heard from some who were frustrated by the long lines and lack of dining options on Sundays.
Headquartered in Georgia, Chick-fil-A has more than 3,000 locations nationwide and is loved by many. But it has also attracted many detractors. In recent years, separate proposals to open Chick-fil-A restaurants at airports in Buffalo and San Antonio were scrapped after public opposition.
In 2021, when Applegreen was first awarded the contract, another group of New York lawmakers wrote letters to the Thruway Authority and the governor asking them to reconsider including Chick-fil-A among the highway rest areas in light of the chain’s previous support. of anti-LGBTQ causes. They made no mention of the chain’s unusual opening hours.
The company has been heavily criticized in the past for donating to groups trying to quit the legalization of gay marriage. But under pressure, the company stopped making such donations, and recently came under fire from conservatives for its efforts on diversity, equality and inclusion.
Chick-fil-A did not respond to requests for comment, but the restaurant chain has denied in the past that it has any political or social agenda.
In turn, the company has consistently stuck to its values. For example, the chain operates a location at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, which was closed this season because all eight of the football team’s home games took place on Sundays. (The stadium hosts other events throughout the year.)
The chain’s position along New York’s highways should also be secure for the foreseeable future, regardless of the fate of the new bill. With Applegreen still renting for three decades, new rules might not become relevant until the 2050s.
Until then, hungry New York road trippers might have to do a little hunting for lunch.
“I love Chick-fil-A, and I would have enjoyed Chick-fil-A that day,” Ms. Bogacz said of her drive home from the Adirondacks. “We drove further down and came to a McDonald’s that was open.”