Fans call Chick-fil-A ‘disgraceful’ after viral video
Chick-fil-A is under fire after a worker shared a TikTok clip that exposes the company’s handling of food, leaving restaurant goers with a fowl taste in their mouths.
Chick-fil-A, the popular fast-food chain known for its chicken sandwiches and customer service, is facing criticism after a video shows one of its employees at an Albuquerque, New Mexico location, discarding trays of chicken nuggets.
The seconds-long clip – shared in 2021 by a user known as @jlucvss – is captioned, “what they do every night with the chicken nuggets at Chick-fil-A.”
Quickly going viral on social media, the now deleted video hit the eyes of more than 7.4 million stunned viewers, sparking widespread debate about food waste in the restaurant industry, with many people expressing disappointment and outrage.
“This place just throws [their] food away, could legit end world hunger,” writes one concerned user, while a second shares, “All those homeless starving and you just casually throw food away, waste.”
“Such a waste there are so many poor people out there that don’t have food and you guys are going and doing that, [it’s] disgraceful,” writes a third.
A fourth netizen offers a solution to the massive waste allegedly happening at the fast food restaurant: “So much food waste. Think about it, if every restaurant in town donated all the leftover food. I bet, no one in town would go hungry.”
Some cyber fans considered the supply chain and suggested it’s a shame killing so many chickens, only to toss them in the trash.
“Bruh chickens didn’t die for this,” shares one cybernaut, while a second writes, “[You’re] wasting chicken, if the customers don’t eat that much then [why] do they make [so much] food? [You] should not have [killed] that many chickens.”
Others fast-food junkies chimed in, expressing their despair: “I was so shocked I had an out of body experience,” writes one while a second jokes, “Breaking news. There has been a mass murder of chicken nuggies at a local Chick-fil-A, more on this story at 6.”
Meanwhile, a few netizens argued that strict food safety regulations often prevent restaurants from repurposing unsold items.
“Chicken that sits out too long cannot be given out to the homeless hours later it will get them sick. It’s not a doughnut,” writes one user.
Supporting the claims made by the TikTok user, current and former Chick-fil-A employees offered their experiences at various locations: “Can confirm. We used to throw out SO much chicken,” one person shares. “Blame corporate not the employees,” another adds.
In the meantime, another Chick-fil-A worker shared a photo on Reddit, showing a trash bin filled with unsold cookies.
The post is titled, “The manager would throw away cookies every Saturday instead of giving them to the employees.”
“That’s just dumb. Especially when the manager can control how many are made day-to-day,” writes one netizen. “For the mom who brings their kid in for a meal and doesn’t order the cookie, give the employees some leeway with the cookies and it could lead to repeat customers instead of wasted food,” offers a second.
A third Redditor adds, “And someone will start demanding their cookie handout and ruin it for everyone.”
Food Waste Reduction
To its credit, Chick-fil-A operates a food waste reduction initiative called the Shared Table program, launched in 2012 to “[bridge] the gap between restaurants with surplus food and community organizations that serve those in need.”
Contradicting the claims made by some of its workers, the fast-food restaurant writes on its website that “in addition to donating leftover food,” it’s adopted a “‘cook less, more often’ approach to reduce or eliminate the amount of food that goes unserved.”
Speaking with Newsweek, a spokesperson for Chick-fil-A responded to the accusations of food waste and defended the actions of the employees, citing food safety regulations.
“We’re not able to determine which Chick-fil-A restaurant this is but can share that each restaurant has high food safety and quality standards, so when food falls outside a certain hold time…it’s no longer safe to donate or serve,” the employee said.
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