A Hotel Employee Inspired The Creation Of Chick-Fil-A's My Pleasure

If you've ever stayed at a luxury hotel like The Ritz-Carlton, you're probably familiar with the chain's Michelin-starred dining options, European-style cuisine, and commitment to trying to provide top-notch service. In fact, hotel founders have even developed a "brand language," discovering that "the frequent use of certain phrases helped unify their employees around a shared identity and contributed to a distinctive 'Ritz style' that the public could easily recognize: phrases like 'my pleasure,' 'right away,' [and] 'certainly,'" (per Forbes). In contrast, terms like "Spicy Chicken Sandwich," "Spicy Deluxe Sandwich," and "Polynesian Sauce" belong to a language you're likely to associate with the rapidly growing fast food chain, Chick-fil-A. 

What do the founders of The Ritz-Carlton and Chick-fil-A have in common? They both seem to agree that whether customers are at the local drive-thru or sitting poolside with a margarita, they appreciate feeling like royalty. And they believe that the language employees use makes a big difference.

The first Chick-fil-A was founded by Truett Cathy in 1946 in Hapeville, Georgia (via CNN BUSINESS). At the start of the 21st century, Cathy wanted to open additional Chick-fil-A's across the country and to stand out from chains that were criticized for how they treated customers. Steve Robinson, who was once in charge of Chick-fil-A's marketing efforts, writes in his book "Covert Cows and Chic-fil-A" that nearly 20 years ago, Cathy attended a conference for people who run franchises. There, Cathy shared an experience he had at the Ritz-Carlton that impressed him. 

After Cathy said "thank you," the staff member said two words that the restaurant owner loved. As you may have guessed, those words were "my pleasure," (per Chick-fil-A). According to the company, "the memory of the man's smile and those two little words stayed with him for several days." Cathy was so taken aback by this response that he requested that everyone who works for him, including in corporate, start using "my pleasure" whenever someone thanks them. "You expect that from a five-star hotel," Cathy stated, "But to have teenagers in a fast-food atmosphere saying it's their pleasure to serve—that's a real head-turner." Apparently, the phrase became so popular that Cathy received mail from customers who shared how much they appreciated the response. 

Nevertheless, Robinson details in his book that some Chick-fil-A employees were still reluctant to use the phrase (per CNN BUSINESS). Two years after the conference where Cathy revealed his Ritz-Carlton experience, his son Daniel Truett Cathy, who is now Chick-fil-A's CEO, began using "my pleasure" and encouraging others to do the same, which is when it became an unofficial policy to start using the phrase. "It dawned on me that this could be a service signature for us, almost like two pickles on a sandwich," Daniel Truett Cathy said. Today, Chick-fil-A employees are taught to smile at customers, look them in the eyes, and talk in an upbeat manner.

Per an Ask Me Anything (AMA) Reddit thread, a Chick-fil-A employee says that telling customers "my pleasure" is not an official policy. They write, "It's a courtesy thing. 'You're welcome' seems too indifferent and we're told to use elevated language. Besides, we could get in trouble if we don't say it. Also, did you know that saying 'my pleasure' is not mentioned in the official training at all? It's a learned behavior." 

The association between "my pleasure" and Chick-fil-A became so established that the company even has custom t-shirts with the phrase printed on them. While the origin of Chick-fil-A's "my pleasure" may be thanks to the Ritz-Carlton, the phrase is certainly now often affiliated with the chicken chain. "My pleasure and Chick-fil-A go hand in hand," Emily Gilmore, who runs a Chick-fil-A in Concord, North Carolina said. "I say it at home too. It drives my husband absolutely crazy. He says 'Can't you just say, you're welcome?' And I'm like 'No. I can't.' It just comes naturally to me now," she added (per CNN BUSINESS).