Month 10 - Chick-fil-A Food Truck

We are into month ten on the road, and we are still in St. Petersburg, Fl at Tyrone Square Mall.  (Side Note: This short-sleeve wearing, beach going, sunshine warming winter is AWESOME!!) The team and David survived Black Friday and all that craziness.  The restaurant is continuing to stay busy as Christmas is getting closer.  Chicken sandwiches are flying out the shoots.

The Chick-fil-A food truck was in the Tampa area December 4-6th. David and I helped out Thursday at the Lakeland Holiday Parade and Friday at the Tampa Christmas Tree Lighting Event.

This truck can produce 700 sandwiches in one hour! David was one of the lucky ones that worked inside breading chicken for the parade.  My job for the day was cow handler, and it turned out to be one of the best jobs... besides maybe being the cow.  There were 12 people working inside the truck to make the sandwiches, 2 people bagging them up in the black heated carriers, and 4 people passing out the sandwiches to the crowd.  Chick-fil-A GAVE AWAY 4200 sandwiches to people in the parade and the people watching.




This pirate ship was the awesome Chick-fil-A float.  It has a bathroom inside...kinda random but cool.  I was schedule to work with the Cow handing out sandwiches, but my roll changed to help with the Cows on the float.  I was so excited...like really excited! There were a total of 7 Cows on the float and lots of local CFA operators, team members, and families on board.

This parade is a HUGE event in Lakeland.  They estimated about 50,000 people were there.  Our float was rocking out Christmas music and everyone loved it.  But honestly who doesn't love the Cows!  We had one baby cow walking next to the float and shaking hands with the fans.  The CFA float won the top prize of Judge's Choice.  Which is pretty awesome considering there were over 120 floats! I'm standing to the left of the middle cow.  There's nothing like dancing to Christmas music with a cow bell in hand!  It was so much fun!!!

On Friday night, David and I served at the Tampa Christmas Tree Lighting.  Again David was rockin' it inside the food truck, and I was helping distribute the sandwiches and walking around with the Cows. It's a pretty awesome experience to pass out free hot Chick-fil-A sandwiches.  People love you.   I got several responses like "Chick-fil-A is awesome," "God bless you," and a "This just made my night."  Chick-fil-A is wonderful! They gave away over 3000 sandwiches at this event!  I really LOVE this company!   

Feeling like a Failure

I have been feeling like a complete failure lately.
1.  A failure in the kitchen! David usually comes home from work after a long day with no dinner on the table.  I HATE planning a meal and cooking! When it's time to get into the kitchen I immediately think whatever comes out is going to be crap.  Then the guilt comes in that I am a bad wife...failure!
2.  A failure at life because I don't have a paying job right now.
3.  A failure with self-control.  I want to eat healthy, but Snickers are on sale at Target.  I have to buy a bag.  A bag of chips does not stand a chance in front of me.  I feel guilty for all the bad choices and vow to do better tomorrow.  Tomorrow comes with all its temptation, and I label myself a failure again.

I have been reading Made to Crave and just started Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst.  Both are great books so far! And God is using both to teach me about himself, self-control, and failure.

God loves me even in the mess of feeling like a failure.  I've heard and read God loves me thousands of times, but today I started to believe it!  The failures do not have to define me.  I'm a girl loved by Jesus, that's who I am.  Jesus loves me during this messy season of life, and I know he does not want me to stay here.

In 1 Peter 2:9, God is calling me out of the dark pit of failure.

For you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession.  As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.   

I'm learning about my failures and my weaknesses to grow closer to Jesus, and so God can mold me into the person I am created to be. Today I chose a banana over the candy staring at me.  A small victory, and it may be dumb to some people.  But today I'm thankful for God's strength to say no.  And I'm learning to praise Jesus for the small victories in the kitchen too.  David had more than Skittles for dinner tonight...YAY!  

The picture is a quote from Lysa's book Unglued.  Imperfect Progress. I'm not going to stay in the cycle of failure! One step at a time I'm moving toward Jesus by his Grace.  It is slow, and I'm now okay with that!

The song Greater by Mercy Me has been on repeat today.  These are the lyrics I love most

There'll be days I lose the battle

Grace says that it doesn't matter

'Cause the cross already won the war

He's Greater

He's Greater

I am learning to run freely

Understanding just how he sees me

And it makes me love Him more and more

He's Greater

He's Greater

Update from the Last Month

Well, I just realized I never updated the blog after our travel day. At the end of August, we moved from McDonough, Ga to St. Petersburg, Fl for assignment #4.  David took over as the Interim Manager at the Chick-fil-A inside Tyrone Square Mall.  We are starting month two at this location and month eight in the IM program. Time is flying.

About a week into the assignment, David and I woke up to some very sad news. I will never forget the morning we found out Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fi-A, had passed away.  We had heard that he was not doing well, but the shock was still there.  I never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Cathy, but several times that day I found myself crying. All day I just kept thinking about the amazing legacy he was leaving behind.  Here was a man that opened his first restaurant in 1946, opened the first Chick-fil-A in 1967 and then grew the company to over 1800 locations.  I greatly admire is business sense, his commitment to Jesus, and his love for people.  David and I would not be where we are (literally would not be living in St. Petersburg) and who we are without Mr. Cathy.  I could continue, but for more information on Truett Cathy visit www.truettcathy.com.  He was such a great man.  I highly recommend it!

During the month of September there was a second IM, Steven, working with David. I spent lots of time with his wife Courtney while our husbands worked at the restaurant. It was so nice to have someone in the area to hang out with and go shopping.  One Sunday afternoon we all went to see the Tampa Bay Rays play!  Tampa lost, but it was still a fun game to watch. The game was played in an inside stadium which I had never seen before.

The apartment we moved into when we arrived was about 30 minutes from the mall and the closest beach.  It was nice, but traffic to the restaurant was terrible. So when we found out we were staying another month we decided to move closer to the mall...and the beach. Now we have this awesome view everyday. I think I will be okay here! 

One Tough Month

This assignment has been the hardest one so far!  It's been long hours and lots of training. When we arrived in McDonough, we knew a free standing Chick-fil-A was going to open down the road on August 21st.  The previous operator at our location was selected for the grand opening, and he was taking almost all his current employees.  Therefore, David and the other IM Justin were going to have to interview, hire, and train about 20 people.  Starting August 18, the restaurant was being run by an all new staff.  David and Justin have basically been working 7 or 8 in the morning to 11 at night since then.  I worked 55 hours last week.  Last Thursday I was at the restaurant from 8am to 11pm and back the next morning at 6am for a 9 hour shift. My job has been to train Sharon, a new employee, on making salads, wraps, fruit cups, parfaits, cole slaw, and chicken salad.  I can help a little in the kitchen if I'm needed, but I'm not that fast.  I am becoming an excellent dish washer!

But my hours are nothing compared to the work and hours David and Justin are putting into the restaurant and the people.  They are training team members on running the cash registers, making milkshakes, bagging the meals, cooking chicken and everything that entails, making sandwiches, cooking fries, ordering the truck for all the supplies, and everything else in the store.  Writing all this out makes me realize all the small details it takes to give guests a great experience and great food with the high standard of Chick-fil-A.

On a side note... David's birthday was the 20th, and he spent the entire day at the restaurant. He did get a little celebratory cheesecake that night from the team!

It's been awesome to see these guys work so hard and pour their time and energy into the new team to make this a great Chick-fil-A.  They have absolutely been busting it! Not only have they been training, but they have had to deal with machine, facilities, and technology issues.  I know they will both make great operators one day, and I hope all this hard work will pay off in the NEAR future!  Only 2 weeks in and the guys are already seeing great results.  Team members are excited to work, and they are rocking out good food and awesome service!

While the days have been long and Sundays are a treasure to rest, David and I have enjoyed our time in McDonough! We do have some exciting new to share! We will traveling to a new assignment today!! Stay tuned for more info! 

This is the cookie the team bought for us on our last day! We are going to miss them!

Assignment #3

We have made it to assignment #3 in McDonough, GA!  This Chick-fil-A is located inside of Kroger at McDonough Crossing. The store is open from 6:30am to 9pm, so this assignment is my first experience serving breakfast.  We were spoiled at the first two assignments because the stores did not open until 10am.  David is getting up a little earlier now.  Chick-n-minis are my favorite item on the menu, so I am loving this breakfast menu!!! David is excited because one of his friends from the interim manager training class is also working at this location.  They are working hard but also having some fun!

We were told in the beginning that we would probably only be here for a month.  Therefore, the only option for housing was a hotel.  I have never stayed in a hotel for more than a week, so this should be fun! It hasn’t been terrible, but I think I might be a little high maintenance.  Some positive things are I don’t have to wash sheets and towels, there is an indoor pool, and there is a nice gym.  The negatives are we always get water on the floor when we shower and we do not have a kitchen so dinner is always out. 

While in Atlanta, we are looking forward to watching the Braves play, going to the Georgia Aquarium, and seeing the Chick-fil-A corporate office again.   Should be a fun fast month!

All Good Things Must Come to an End

David wrapped up his second assignment in Gastonia, NC.  It has been a great experience meeting and working with the people at Eastridge Mall for the past three months.  Last Saturday, July 19, we officially closed the Chick-fil-A at the mall.  Throughout the day, we gave away over 200 sandwiches mostly to mall employees but also some visitors in the mall. We were also able to give large nugget trays to the employees of Dillards, Macys, and JC Penneys.

David and I arrived at the store about 10am Saturday and left around 11:30pm, but the day seemed to fly.  We had the busiest lunch and most sales for the day since David and I arrived.  The store definitely ended on a high note.  

Once the store closed at nine, we continued to work full force.  We had so many dishes and equipment to clean.  I think I stood at the sink for over an hour.  It's amazing all the equipment and kitchen things that are taken apart and cleaned every night.

We all enjoyed some ice dream after all the work was done.  Delicious!!!









This is our closing crew on Saturday night!  They have worked so hard, and we have had a lot of fun the past three month.  Thankfully the picture is dark because we all had been busting it all day, and I'll just say for myself, I looked rough!  Pretty sure I had raw chicken juice on my shirt.



Sunday morning we hit the ground running again! First thing was getting all the left over food and paper products to another Chick-fil-A.  It seemed like we had very little to transfer but five vehicles and one trailer later we were headed to the other store.  Then we had to take all the kitchen utensils and supplies and divide them up between the other stores from the area.  Local operators had already signed up for the items they wanted for their stores.  

We only had one surprise cleaning out the store.  This lovely pile of fries was found after removing the warming drawers, and they were just a little hard after about 10 years.  

Equipment and kitchen stuff was flying out the door Monday and Tuesday.  This is the kitchen completely cleaned out Wednesday afternoon.  

David and I will never forget our time in Gastonia.  We worked with an amazing team that worked hard and laughed all the time.  This team had a great attitude to the end, and it was joy to get to know them.  I wish everyone a great future as they go off to college, start new jobs, or continue working with Chick-Fil-A!    

   

Updates from the Last Month

It's been quite a while since an update, so here are some of the fun things we have been up to for the past month.

Because we are so close to Greensboro, we have been able to spend some time with David's family.  This is our sweet nephew, Hudson, who fell asleep while I was holding him.  We also celebrated Grandpa Hall's 93rd birthday at the end of June.   

Living downtown Charlotte definitely has its benefits.  We decided to go to a Charlotte Knight's baseball last minute one night against the Louisville Bats.  We bought random tickets on Stubhub, and they were perfect! It started raining about half way through the game, and there was only one section and about five rows of covered seats.  We were SO thankful for dry seats, AND that it did stop raining because we had walked to the game!!

The next night, we celebrated Father's Day with David's dad and his wife at another Knight's game.  I thought it was an exciting game!  The Knights were winning 12 to 1 at the beginning of the fifth inning and finished strong at the end 12 to 4.  

At the end of June, I went back to my old job at Quality Drugs to work for 2 days.  My friend Amanda took my job when I left, and it was awesome to work with her for the first time.  I have truly missed working in a pharmacy and the folks at Quality Drugs.       

After working at the pharmacy, David met me Raleigh, and we spent the weekend visiting with friends.  Saturday, we visited David's old coworkers at Chick-fil-A in Durham.  Sunday was spent relaxing at the lake with the Kuells!  The lake with friends may be my favorite pastime! 

David and I had a wonderful time Fourth of July weekend at Lake Norman with the Curry Family.  It was so relaxing just to lay around in the water, eat and repeat.  The lake, delicious food, and good company... A Sunday afternoon doesn't get much better!

We enjoyed spending time with David's three college roommates and their spouses one weekend in July. There was so much food, I think I gained about 10 pounds over 3 days.  There was also a lot of corn hole and some adult beverages.

We have big changes happening in the next few weeks as we transfer to a new location, so there will be plenty of new updates in the near future! 

Good Times with Good Friends

I have spent several days over the past two weeks in Raleigh-Durham hanging out with dearly-missed friends. I attended the final pool party with my bible study.  I have learned so much and grown to know more about Jesus because of these awesome ladies and our wonderful leader Allyson (sadly taking the picture instead of in it).  The group has changed over the past 4 years as people come and go, but words can not describe how much I enjoyed spending time and living life with these women!!!

Most of my time was spent with one of my favorite families.  I always enjoying spending time at their house with the three kiddos. We went strawberry picking, swimming at the pool, made movies on my phone, and ate a lot of delicious strawberry pie.  (I may or may not have eaten 1/4 of a pie in one sitting) 

One day I was sitting in the van with the kids, and I heard what sounded like splashing water. Thinking it wasn't possible, I turned around to see what was going on. What do you know, the 5 year old has an empty cup upside down over a plastic bag on the floor. I asked him what happened and he said "I didn't want the water in my cup so I dumped it on the floor." Now I know he knows better than that, so I asked him what his mom would say when she found out.  In a scared voice he asked "are you going to tell her." Before anything else is said his mom walks back to the van, and his 3 year old little brother wastes no time in telling his mom what happened.

Again, I know he knows better than to dump water onto the van floor, but in that moment he did what wanted to do without thinking about the consequences.

This entire situation made me realize that I'm just like a child.  I am always doing things that deserve punishment from my Heavenly Father.  I do things like see a girl in shape and want to look like her, see a mom with kids and envy her life, get angry and yell at drivers on the road, serve myself and my needs before David.  I was reminded that everyday I sin again God. I rebel again Him. I do what I want to do at that moment and don't think about the consequences. God hates sin, and my mind was consumed with the punishment I deserved.  But then I remembered Jesus and the Gospel.  Jesus has already taken that punishment for me. He paid the price for MY sins on the cross. Jesus in my place! Now when God looks down on me, he sees grace and that justice has been served. Oh what a savior!  

I so often forget the huge cost of my sin, and then it just smacks me in the face. And I'm reminded of God's great grace and Jesus's sacrifice when I'm just hanging out with kids.

In other news... David and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on June 5th!!!  We had a delicious dinner at The Palm Restaurant.  It's been a great 4 years, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us.