Almost Canadian

I see, you don't have any evidence.

I'd suggest that you check the results from the 2011 Federal Election and compare, let's say, the election results in SK, NU, YT. But I doubt that that would make any difference to you.

bc_guy

I never claimed that my conjectures about Alberta's prevailing social and ideological attitudes are fact. Looking over election results for several of Alberta's electoral districts, I have some reason to believe that the majority of Albertans are conservative leaning and probably adhere to some common conservative ideals like anti-LGBT sentiments. Also, Alberta is more urbanized and metropolitan than other conservative-leaning parts of Canada. A good marketing strategy for Chick-fil-A would involve targeting densely populated, conservative-leaning parts of Canada. Calgary seems to be the best candidate in this regard.

Again, this is all purely conjectural. I'm not trying to pass this off as fact. In fact, Alberta doesn't even need to be have very many anti-LGBT conservatives to be Chick-fil-A's first choice. It's the reputation of being like this (whether it's mythical or factual) that would probably attract controversial restaurant chains like Chick-fil-A to invest in starting their first Canadian restaurant in Calgary. Also notice that they're opening it in Canada's third busiest airport (after Vancouver and Toronto both of which have reputations for being extremely liberal and/or LGBT-friendly).

Shard

You might want to "stop digging" at this point.

caretaker

They're headquarters is in Atlanta and Atlanta is full of Baptists - I even know a couple of them. The Deluxe Chicken Sandwich has wheat flour, msg and peanut oil to weed out some of the non-believers... but seriously, sure it's possible they're choosing that location because of the conservative biblebelt mores southern Alberta is well known for (birthplace of the Reform Party, no conjecture about it but the smaller cities have more camp meetings and tabernacles on their outskirts), but without having a microphone in their boardroom there's no way to know. The fact that an airport offers a second level of security against protests and vandalism and a buffer against bad local press because the customers are in transit and not local doesn't hurt them either, but diners in an international airport are also more likely to have already been customers in the US or at least have heard the name and big airports are extremely desireable for shops and eateries because there's less competition and the customers are essentialy captives there so the franchises pay top dollar to be there. My friend the jeweller has his pewter pins and pendants in all the Cara shops and it's a substantial help. There are far too many factors in play to say the political make-up of Calgary is the deciding reason they're trying there first. See how some of the facts of this deal seem to work for both arguments? I personally don't think gay sex is enough to sway a major business decision like this but if it cost them a few sales it may make them a few extra to compensate, even if people only go there because they're 'Chick-fil-A curious'.

bc_guy

I'm not making this up as I go along if that's what you're implying. This is what I thought from the very beginning when I read that they were opening up in Calgary. For the sake of brevity, I didn't initially include all the details I just typed. Also, I mean it when I say that all this is pure speculation. I don't know if it's true since I'm not on Chick-fil-A's marketing team. I'm just making an educated guess based on the limited information I have.

Also, I've never been to Alberta (unless you count the inside of Calgary International Airport), so I wouldn't know for absolute certain what people from there are like. Based on what I see in the news and other media, I have my own opinions and ideas about what Albertans might be like. But my views about Alberta (like their higher tendency to be anti-LGBT) aren't ironclad. They're opinions, not facts, and they can either be changed or reinforced by experience and additional evidence. In a few weeks, I'm actually moving to an area of BC that's supposedly just like Alberta. All these negative Albertan stereotypes aren't stopping me. I won't go around being rude to or distrustful of people on the basis of mostly anecdotal evidence and stereotypes. Everyone I meet will start with a clean slate, just like everybody else.

bc_guy

Nice analysis. I really don't know exactly what made their marketing team decide on Calgary International Airport, but they're there for one or a multitude of reasons. Given my limited experience in marketing, if I was on their team, I'd suggest seeking out the most densely populated conservative-leaning metropolitan areas in Canada (wherever they might be) and market to them first. The use of the airport location would also be a major upgrade to this marketing plan.

I don't really think Calgary is all that bad. My opinion of modern Calgary is that it's really diverse with respect to different social attitudes and belief systems. It seems to be a city that's in the process of moving away from being traditionally over-conservative to becoming more modern and enlightened.

scrubbedexpat091

HMSHost owns and operates the Calgary airport location, and they already have franchising rights to Chick Fil A, it may not have even been Chick Fil A who had the interest in having a location there, and was likely HMSHost who was in need of replacing the Harvey's they owned in that location who chose to open one there.

Based on the comments made by the corporate person in the articles I saw, doesn't really sound like they have an expansion planned for Canada at this time.

This isn't the first time there has been a franchise in Canada, there was one in 1995, but it didn't last too long.

Shard

Yes I am implying that "you are making this up as you go along". You say you don't have much experience in marketing and you have never even been to Alberta, yet you see it as reasonable to expound some nonsensical ill-informed opinions and then repeatedly back them up. There is nowhere in BC that is "just like Alberta" FFS, it's a bit like saying there's somewhere in Lancashire that's just like Yorkshire. At least you realise that basing your opinions on anecdotal stereotypes is never a good thing.

bc_guy

OK, there's no way for me to prove that I didn't make this up as I went along. But I definitely know that I wasn't. I should have typed out my full explanation from the get-go, but that ship has long sailed. By "somewhere in BC that's supposedly just like Alberta", I'm referring to an area that's widely regarded as being culturally similar to Alberta in a lot of ways. I should really choose my words more carefully.

Also, I know that I'm no expert on Alberta or marketing tactics. I said that this was all pure speculation and that I wasn't trying to pass it off as fact. My opinions (if you can call them that) about Alberta are based on occurrences and statistics that I usually read about in the news media, some of which reinforce the negative stereotypes (and others that contradict them). I'm not even sure if "opinion" is the right term to use, because my impression of them is nowhere near ironclad or dogmatic.

To put it accurately, I'm mostly neutral on the Alberta issue since there is no conclusive evidence. However, I'm the kind of person who likes to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Given all these negative anecdotes, occurrences and alleged trends present in Alberta, I feel like there's more of a need to prepare for negativity in Alberta than anywhere else in case some or all of the stereotypes might be true. I'm not LGBT, but I am a member of another minority group that some (as in a small, yet adequately significant number of) Albertans are allegedly not too fond of. Truth be told, anyone should be extra prepared for anywhere, because the stereotypes about places like Vancouver and Toronto being tolerant could very well be exaggerated. You'll never really know until you get there and start interacting with people and society at large. This is why I'm giving everyone a clean slate regardless of what their city is well-known for (whether it's positive or negative). My impressions about Alberta are more skewed to the negative side due to trepidation that I have no problem with overcoming in split-second.

burks

Chick-fil-A’s expansion strategy — 108 new locations this year — includes moving into areas where its politics are unpopular.

Individual franchises are working to overcome the political stigma; in California, a franchise offered free meals last year to gay marriage advocates.

Chick-fil-A Comes To Canada With Calgary Airport Location

bc_guy

Well, that helps solve the mystery of why they're opening in Calgary first. Also, Jsmth321 also gave a more plausible reason for why Calgary might be the first. So, it looks like Calgary's political leanings or reputation didn't really play too big a role in the decision to open a restaurant in Calgary's airport.

caretaker

I disagree and say that there are in fact many places in BC that are just like many places in Alberta. If BC Guy means that the place he's moving to conforms to the stereotypical intolerant redneck Alberta town (think Brooks in 1976), BC has those as well and in good supply, and if he got that information from someone who's currently living there any argument coming from someone on the other side of the ocean may fall on deaf ears. Not that you aren't trying to help, Shard.
Best chance of walking in on a KKK meeting is probably in the Fraser Valley. In my experience the reputation of a city or town or neighbourhood is secondary to who your next door neighbours are in terms of what your life there is like.

scrubbedexpat091

I lived in Edmonton and found it pretty diverse and tolerant, and really just like any other large city I have been to.

Once out in the sticks in BC, you can get some pretty red neck towns who are not as tolerant, just like you can probably find in Alberta.

The provinces are too large to swipe with one large brush. About an hour east of Vancouver you start to enter some pretty conservative places and is nicknamed the bible belt of BC.

Shard

Well, yeah, except they're not Alberta they're BC. It's a meaningless comment. It's like saying they're are places in Saskatchewan that are just like Ontario.

However, I'm now more curious about bc-guy's minority grouping, as it surprises me that he is somewhat nervous about Albertans. Has he seen who Calgary voted in as mayor.

Almost Canadian

Are you a blue, bisexual crocodile or something?

Believe it or not, I doubt that you will find Albertans any more racist than you will find any other Canadians.

I live in rural Alberta. Some, like you, may believe that I live in redneck central. The school my youngest child goes to has ~96 children. Kindergarten to grade 8. There are black, brown, white, yellow and red (to use a silly description) pupils. They all mix as easily as I witnessed children mix at school in all the areas of England that I lived in.

Alberta is a very big place compared to, let's say, England. Tarring all Albertans with the same brush makes as much sense as saying that all English people are football hooligans because one once saw a documentary about English football hooligans.