At Lunch Now: Bryant Park is a Madhouse With Chick Fil A Freeloaders


Chick Fil A Giveaway in Bryant Park. Photo courtesy of Ex_Flexitarian

Wow. Just… wow.

Was it worth it?

Our man Jeremiah was on the scene and said “Yes.  Yes it was.”  And according to this Chick Fil A was scouting locations in NYC (although they admit it probably is a few years away.)  Hmmmm.  Wonder if people will go for it…


Photo courtesy of Lunch’er “Arvind”

Photo courtesy of MychaelS

I’d say that’s a yes.

31 Comments

  • its looks like the effing trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange.

  • anyone here get one?

  • even if someone paid me to stay on that crazy line, I’d decline.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    WTH??? I was waiting at the fountain since 12:30 and they went to Bryant Park instead?!?!

  • Got there right at 1 and they weren’t there, so I went and got dosas instead. Now I’m definitely glad – the sandwich isn’t REALLY worth that madhouse. Although holy jesus I miss their sandwiches.

  • Put up a few more photos.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris6sigma/sets/72157624333146241/

    I got a free cow plushie doll and a Pez dispenser. There was a line of about 40-50 people waiting for sandwiches, so I ended up giving up and going to Kwik Meal. Seems a little ironic that most of the folks that got a sandwich are likely tourists who have Chick-Fil-A’s in their own town, but I digress.

    • did you have to wear a stupid hat to get a sandwich?

      • thankfully I did not have to cow-suit up

      • though it would have been legen-dairy

      • No – they gave the hats out as a “ticket” for a sandwich. You didn’t have to wear it, but most people put them on anyways. I got there at 12 and the line moved quickly, definitely less than 10 minutes. And the bus of cows moved on at 12:20.

        The sandwich was tasty, except the middle where it was soggy. The edges were nice and crunchy though. And the Dr Pepper was almost cold enough.

  • I am about a block away and I decided against it. The July issue of food network magazine has a copy that recipe for the chicken sandwich

  • I prefer my chicken without a slathering of religious bullying. Even if I patronized national chains, I wouldn’t give them one cent of my hard earned money.

  • They gave away 300 sandwiches and soda on 59 and 5th at 12. Crazy scene. Bunch of cows running around…..

  • tried one at the ATL airport a couple of months back. pretty good. it’s probably better if it’s free.

    • My 2nd job ever was at a Chick-Fil-A (I sound like a Ben Folds Five song), and I can vouch for the level of quality. All the chicken was whole (ie. non-processed) and came in fresh with a very low threshold for bad product. The chicken was marinated and breaded on-site, and all product (chicken, fries, etc) would be trashed if they were getting too old (about 30 min threshhold).

      Sanitation and food safety was also heavily emphasized, given the amount of raw chicken that was around. We’d pretty much break down the entire kitchen, scrub it to the bone, and re-assemble after service.

      I’ve seen the level of apathy at other chains, and C-F-A is one of the few fast food joints I really feel comfortable eating.

      I’m agnostic now, but not because of Chick-Fil-A :)

      • I hear they pay their store managers 6 figure salaries… clearly I am in the wrong profession

      • “came in fresh with a very low threshold for bad product”

        Oops, change threshold to ‘tolerance’. I’ve been staring at pv spreads way too long today.

  • I waited for the Chick-fil-A gang at the Natural History Museum. There was a good crowd there, but not a crazy big one. In fact, some of the reps were surprised that they didn’t have more people waiting for them there. They didn’t even give away all 300 sandwiches before they headed down to the Pulitzer Fountain. They were also giving away regular and diet Dr. Pepper to go with the sandwiches. They gave me a 6-pack. And, yes, I wore the hat. In fact, I was the first one to get one.

  • I got there right on time & was towards the front of the line & got myself two sandwiches and a Dr. Pepper. It was in a heat pack so it was extremely hot when they handed it out. The steam & moisture made the sandwich a bit squished & the chicken not crunchy but I still think it was well worth it!

    In case people don’t know, I just got confirmation that the Chick-Fil-A inside NYU food court is NOT just for NYU students! You just gotta tell the you’re going there for Chick-Fil-A and they’ll let you in. No more sneaking around needed… though I heard it’s not as good or fresh. :-/

  • @galimidi3 – dunno about that, but my store manager was living very comfortably. Kids went to a private Catholic school, so they had to be making enough to squeak by.

    You couldn’t pay me enough for that job though – dealing with asshole customers, sullen teenagers and religious nutjobs. Oi vey!

  • I watched from the other side of the ping pong tables. Strange. Free chicken sandwiches.

  • oh, and I watched the cow play ping pong while an official-looking lady in a cow-print shirt took his pic.

  • Wow, they cleared out fast. I was passing through there at around 1:30 and there was no trace of any of this. And no dancing cows.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Saw the bus with those cows on top at about 1:15pm. Didn’t know what that was. Never even heard of Chick-Fil-A until reading Eat This Not That recently.

  • I never had it before so I don’t know what I’m missing out in. Oh well.

  • i love the honey mustard sauce they serve with their sandwiches.

Leave a Reply

You must log in or register to post a comment.