A Chicken Sandwich is Making McDonald’s Nervous

Early this year a large number of MacDonald’s restaurant franchise owners got together and sent a letter to management demanding that they make producing a quality chicken sandwich their number one priority.

Why?

Because, Chic-Fil-A is knocking their socks off.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Chic-Fil-A has now become the second largest fast-food restaurant in the nation and it is making their competitors nervous.

The reason for this is more complicated than it would first appear. Sure, they make a pretty good chicken sandwich, but there other factors.

Let’s start with preparing the chicken; they use a pressure cooker, something that sets them apart.

Their customer service is second to none.

Unlike their competitors who allow franchise owners to own multiply locations, Chic-Fil-a only allows their franchise owners to own one franchise thus causing them to be “all-in” on that one location.

These are just a few of the things that experts in the restaurant industry state as reasons for their success.

Now my point in all this is not to promote Chic-Fil-A, (they are a private company so you and I can’t buy stock in them even if we wanted to), but to remind you of a very important lesson…success is complicated.

Not “complicated” in a bad way but in a specialized way.

Whether you are a mother trying to produce extraordinary children,

Or a pastor trying to produce extraordinary disciples of Jesus Christ,

Or a restaurant owner trying to produce a great chicken sandwich

Or any other endeavor…

The “rule of thumb”, industry standards, and meeting expectations is only going to make you average at best.

What will set you apart and set you up to be exceptional is finding something that differentiates you from the pack, and it will usually start with you. In what ways are you different from the pack? In what way are you exceptional? Answer that and find a way to leverage that extraordinariness where it counts…that will be your secret sauce.

And the good news is, it’s never to late to start or to dire to begin.

The ONE THING for today: Find those few things that makes you extraordinary and different and find a way to leverage them in making an extraordinary difference in the lives of those you serve.