Chick Filleted

They may as well hang a sign on every city hall that reads, “Eat No Chikin.”

From San Francisco to Boston, mayors of some of the United States’ largest metropolises have spurned Chick-fil-A, with some even telling the company to stay outside their city limits. Although the fast food joints have already begun to pop up in New York City, Bill de Blasio contributed his scornful opinion of the religiously conservative business this week.

“[W]hat the ownership of Chick-fil-A has said is wrong. I’m certainly not going to patronize them and I wouldn’t urge any other New Yorker to patronize them,” the mayor of Gotham said at a press conference.

What the ownership of Chick-fil-A has said is now a few years old. CEO Dan Cathy, reflecting the family-owned operation’s Southern Baptist beliefs, spoke out repeatedly against legalizing same-sex marriage at the height of public debate in 2012 and 2013. He also found himself in the deep fryer for the organization’s affiliations and donations to groups considered by critics as anti-gay.

As ThinkProgress reported in March 2014, Chick-fil-A ramped down that giving significantly. The same month, Cathy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he regretted putting his company and its employees through such a public ordeal, saying he “learned” from the experience and wanted to “stay focused on customer service” instead of engaging other controversial social policy, like religious freedom legislation in multiple states.

That hasn’t been enough for big-city execs. In addition to de Blasio rehashing Cathy’s comments, Boston mayor Marty Walsh said earlier this year that Beantown doesn’t “need a company … that discriminates against anyone.”

In an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Walsh framed his opinion of Chick-fil-A opening in his city by saying “I would have to see if they change their policies,” echoing his predecessor, the late Thomas Menino, and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. Both Menino and Emanuel later clarified that they wouldn’t use procedural remedies to make their point, like denying permits to the company.

But when asked for a similar clarification of Walsh’s comments to the Journal, a spokesperson simply responded to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that Walsh “will carefully review any business proposal that comes to his desk.”

De Blasio hasn’t gone that far. He admitted during this week’s presser that Chick-fil-A “has a legal right” to set up shop in New York City. It already has in a few Manhattan locations, and it plans to expand into Queens this fall. A spokesperson for the company says leadership has been “thrilled by the strong response” thus far—and that the PR matters of the last few years are non-issues.

“Everyone is welcome, and Chick-fil-A has no political agenda. Our sole focus is on serving great food with fast and remarkable service,” Carrie Kurlander, the company’s VP of public relations, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The customers in the city—at least those who have chimed in on Google reviews—have approved. They’ve lauded the first Manhattan location, at 37th St. and the Avenue of the Americas, for its speed and quality despite the long lines. Ask any restaurateur: You could do worse than a 4.5 out of 5 rating on the Internet.

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