Chick-fil-A has caused quite a stir after one of the chain's Louisiana locations announced the launch of its summer camp for children. The Chick-fil-A restaurant in Hammond invited parents to sign their kids up to cosplay as a Chick-fil-A employee. The camp, which will take place between July 22 to July 24, will teach attendees how to take orders, bag orders and work as a host, per a Facebook post about the camp. Attendees will also learn customer service skills and make their own Ice Dream cone or cup.
News of the camp first went public on June 6 and since then, several commenters have been sharing their two-cents on the kid-focused initiative. Many expressed sheer confusion and shock while others accused the Hammond Chick-fil-A of shamelessly utilizing child labor.“So, you are charging kids to be trained for minimum wage jobs?” wrote one user. Another warned the restaurant, “Take this down before you end up as national news for all the wrong reasons. Or rather, keep it up so we can laugh at you when you do.”
“Wait. You're wanting parents to *check notes* pay you to use their young children as laborers. But they get a free meal, snack and shirt that will give you free advertising?” a separate user asked.
A few folks applauded Chick-fil-A, saying the camp is actually helpful in teaching children valuable work skills. “I’ll go against the grain here. Kudos to you, Chick-Fil-A Hammond. It’s nice to see an offer to teach young children about work ethic and responsibility, while having a little fun at the same time. I’ll ask my daughter if she’s interested in attending,” wrote one user.
The summer camp includes three sessions that each last from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The cost is $35 per child and will include a kids meal, T-shirt, name tag, and snack. At this time, all sessions for the camp are sold out.
