John Doe began operating his second Restaurant on Oct. 1, 2016. That December, he began to laser focus on drive-thru; as a result, he won Symbol of Success in 2016.

Building on that momentum, John continued to invest in drive-thru throughout 2017, adding more order-takers as needed. He knew  finely tuned drive-thrus would minimize congestion in his lobbies, opening up the front counters up for more sales. Accordingly, front counter sales grew along with drive-thru sales.

Confident with their drive-thru process, John and his Team Leaders have decided to work toward a breakthrough with Chick-fil-A™ One in 2018. They’re excited about its potential to grow frequency of customer visits. They plan on educating current customers on the app and leveraging its features to encourage them to return more often.

With two Restaurants to run, John needed the full loyalty of his two top leaders. So in 2017, he doubled their incomes and offered healthcare, effectively giving them career salaries with full ownership and autonomy. With such a large labor investment, John was certain his stores would be precluded from winning Champions Club.

But his leaders —whose buy-in had changed in response to his generosity — didn’t accept his premise. Wanting to win for him, they kept trying to find money and tighten labor.

The Restaurants went into November with a 14 percent profit and then skyrocketed in December.

“You can’t outgive God,” John concludes. “I gave more than I had ever given before, accepted defeat, and it still came back with me achieving my dream.”