Thousands Flock to Chick-fil-A in Cumming

Chick-fil-A's 'Appreciation Day' Wednesday drew thousands of people at the two restaurants located in Cumming.

Anna Rea Brittle, a shift manager at the restaurant at ,said about 3,400 people came through the door throughout the day and night and they were ready.

"We staffed extra people, day shift and night shift, we actually had several people stay the whole day because it was so, so busy," she said.

Regardless of the enormous crowds, the store never ran out of food and employees were pleased with the turnout.

"We were extremely thrilled that we had that many people," Brittle said. "It was crazy."

Tricia Earnest, the store's manager, said they were overwhelmed with the amount of support they received.

"People were super enthusiastic and it was just great all around," she said. "We're pretty humbled by the whole situation actually."

Less than five miles away the crowd situation was no different at the restaurant located at .

"We did fantastic, it was an amazing day yesterday," said Store Manager Sharon Price. "We had lot's of people turn out."

Long lines formed to get into the restaurant and cars stacked Highway 9 as people patiently edged their way into the parking lot.

Price said by about 3 p.m. employees had waited on 2,080 customers and at one point during the evening, people were waiting at least one hour to get food via the drive-through.

Dan Cathy, head of Chick-fil-A and son of founder Truett Cathy, called Pastor Rick Warren and claimed to have set a world record in sales, according to a report on FoxNews.com.

The huge turnout in Cumming and elsewhere came about due to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee calling for a 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.' He did so by setting up a Facebook page to draw attention.

On the company website, Chick-fil-A released the following statement Thursday:

We are very grateful and humbled by the incredible turnout of loyal Chick-fil-A customers on August 1 at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country. Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was not a company promotion; it was initiated by others.

We congratulate local Chick-fil-A Owner/Operators and their team members for striving to serve each and every customer with genuine hospitality.

While we don’t release exact sales numbers, it was an unprecedented day.

The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year-old service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.

Our goal is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.

- Steve Robinson, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Chick-fil-A, Inc.

, but this time it's backed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

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