Every lover of Chick-fil-A knows that Sunday pain. The crushing reality when you crave a chicken sandwich and remember that it’s Sunday and the restaurant isn’t open. It feels like every Sunday is when you want Chick-fil-A the most, and it’s never there for you. Falcons fans are about to be reminded of this every single week of the NFL season.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is getting its own Chick-fil-A for Falcons games, which sounds amazing. One problem: It will continue the company’s longstanding tradition of being closed on Sunday, which means yes, no chicken sandwiches on the most common NFL game day.
One would think the restaurant would make an exception given Sunday will be the only day of the week where fans are in the stadium — but alas, no adjustment will be made to the hours.
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Chick-fil-A started their tradition of being closed on Sunday in 1946. The restaurant’s website has an entire section devoted to explaining the reasoning.
“Truett saw the importance of closing on Sundays so that he and his employees could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose - a practice we uphold today. Sundays are meant for getting out and spending time with family and friends.”
It’s great news for Chick-fil-A employees who want to watch the Falcons on Sunday, and horrible for anyone else seeing the Falcons on Sunday. It’s good news for college fans and MLS fans though, who will get all the chicken they can eat on their game days.
The Mercedes-Benz stadium concessions list notes that on Sundays, Chick-fil-A is replaced by “Fries Up,” which was a hashtag Chick-fil-A coined during the Falcons playoff run in 2017, but despite the link there won’t be any chicken at the restaurant.
Alison Blue, media relations for the AMB Group, tells SB Nation.com what the restaurant will be on Sundays.
“This stand will become a custom concept called “Fries Up” on Sundays when we have games and “Fries Up” is operated by us in partnership with Levy, our concessions partner in the stadium. The menu items take a southern spin on classic poutine fries and are intended to be shareable items with unique packaging designed for portability.”
It’s okay though, because there might be another option for fans.
*whispers* the two chicken sandwiches I sampled yesterday were way better than Chick-fil-A's (at West Nest and Gamechanger) https://t.co/fODPH5hibK
— Morgan Moriarty (@Morgan_Moriarty) August 16, 2017
Rest assured, Falcons fans: There will be some way to get chicken on a Sunday, but this is one of the weirder concessions stories you’ll see all year.
h/t Boston Globe