Chick-Fil-A draws record sales. Why?

Church’s Chicken may be the biggest purveyor of fried fowl in town, but at the Morrison Crossing development Chick-fil-A rules the roost.

Since opening its doors in March, Brownsville’s newest Chick-fil-A restaurant has been spectacularly popular, with sales far exceeding expectations.

“We are way above the goal we set, and it hasn’t slowed down one bit,” said Joe Magdaleno, owner of Brownsville’s two Chick-fil-A restaurants.

A line of cars 15 deep wraps around the building and even more pack the parking lot during the noon lunch hour, and neighboring restaurants can only look on in awe and envy.

The privately owned company, which weaves biblical principals into its business model, recorded $2.3 billion in sales nationwide last year.

But, even as the Morrison Crossing location executes the business model to perfection, bringing glory to God and chicken to the people, it may also be crushing the competition.

“We’re not doing as well as planned,” an area manager for Church’s Chicken said about the Morrison Crossing restaurant.

Church’s Chicken opened a restaurant at the Morrison Crossing development, its ninth in Brownsville, one month after Chick-fil-A opened there, but with too few customers, the company is being forced to develop a new strategy.

“Sales were really down a month ago and we were struggling,” the Church’s representative said. “We’re going to wait a little longer, use another strategy to get more customers and see what happens.”

Any other fried chicken restaurant chain might not have opted to stand toe to toe with a competitor, selling essentially the same product.

But this is Brownsville, and Church’s is the highest selling chicken purveyor in the Rio Grande Valley, according to the manager, representing one of Church’s top 10 markets nationwide.

The Southmost store enjoys Chick-fil-A-style popularity, with as many as 300 customers dropping $8 to $9 for their version of chicken every day, according to the manager.

It’s hard to compete with a restaurant that everybody seems to love. Even Eddie Orozco, Church’s restaurant manager at Morrison Crossing, likes Chick-fil-A, and his business is chicken.

“I eat there probably two or three times a month,” he said.

Morrison Crossing is another story.

Church’s isn’t alone in the struggle. Quizno’s Subs, Jason’s Deli and Wendy’s all operate under Chick-fil-A’s considerable shadow.

Wendy’s, which opened in February, saw its sales drop too when the Chick-fil-A opened. The two restaurants are less than 25 yards apart, but the contrast in customer volume couldn’t be more evident.

“Oh, yeah,” said Benny Salazar, general manager of the Wendy’s at Morrison Crossing, “There was a big difference when they moved in, but that’s to be expected. When competition opens up next door you’ll feel the effects on the bottom line.”

Vijay Mahajan is a business professor at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, specializing in market strategy.

He agreed with Salazar, adding that Chick-fil-A may just be the latest fad, and once the excited wears off the market will stabilize.

“Ultimately people look for variety,” Mahajan said. “It’s like a multiplex movie hall. Many times if you don’t get into the movie you want to see, you see another. After a while people will grow tired of Chick-fil-A’s long lines and say to heck with it, I’m going to eat something else.”

There are signs that change is on the horizon.

Salazar said many of Wendy’s customers walked over from Chick-fil-A. And sometimes they mix and match meals, buying one item from Chick-fil-A and another from Wendy’s.

Long lines, and too much chicken sent Patty Guevara, 32, into the welcoming arms of Quizno’s. Guevara, a billing specialist, eats at Chick-fil-A at least once a week.

Her favorite meal is the number one, which includes the original Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, waffle fries and drink. Once, when the line was “just too long,” she gave Quizno’s a try.

But there is a big difference between trying something new and the realization of a dream.

“For me it was like a dream come true,” Guevara said about the opening of Chick-fil-A at Morrison Crossing. “I was, like, I don’t have to go to the mall, it’s right here.”

Magdaleno’s location in Sunrise Mall dominates the competition as much as the Morrison Crossing location.

He enjoys the competition.

“I wouldn’t want people eating chicken every day,” he said. “If you did maybe you’d grow tired of it. That’s the advantage everybody in the food court has.”

Magdaleno made several attempts to pin down the appeal of Chick-fil-A, suggesting the service, the atmosphere and the food. The proof is in the pudding … chicken.

“I like to tell people that it’s like an election,” he explained, “only in an election you vote with ballots and with restaurants customers are voting with their eating dollars. This just tells me we’re winning the race.”