How Much Money Do Chick-Fil-A Employees Typically Make?

To create a multi-million dollar business out of thin air is a wish of many; the only issue comes with actually achieving it. Since trees that grow money and bottomless pits of gold haven't been discovered yet, acquiring the funds to develop such a venture is not easy, not that such a little problem prevented the founder of Chick-fil-A from completing his business dream.

According to Chick-fil-A's website, the fast food restaurant chain was founded with its first location in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946. The man behind the scheme was S. Truett Cathy, whose money-making habits began when he was just 8 years old selling bottles of Coca-Cola to his neighbors for a pleasant little profit (via Chick-fil-A's website). Perhaps he lived in a particularly thirsty neighborhood.

These days, Chick-fil-A operates a significantly larger empire: more than 2,800 locations across the U.S., per ScrapeHero. After all, the company allows people to develop its stores through franchise opportunities. To look after all of these restaurants, Chick-fil-A naturally requires a large staff — over 140,000, per the company's website — but how much money are these employees actually paid by the restaurant chain that accrues an annual revenue of $5.8 billion (via Franchise Times)?

One of the most popular roles at Chick-fil-A is team member. According to Indeed, this job involves lots of monotonous tasks in sometimes busy and stressful environments, but the work required is generally straightforward. As a reward, Indeed estimates hourly pay to be $13.06, which is above Payscale's belief of a company-wide average of $11.83 but below Talent's reported national average of $16.50. A similarly popular job at Chick-fil-A is cashier, which Glassdoor reports receives an annual pay of $23,100, below the U.S. average of $27,098.

Meanwhile, team members sweating away in the kitchens and preparing customers' orders are reputed by Indeed to take home $13.87 an hour ($22,451 per year). Meanwhile, drive-thru staff members take home an average $20,781 a year, and front-of-house employees greeting restaurant visitors earn $13.05 hourly. Finally, $12.39 is the financial reward for being one of Chick-fil-A's food preparation workers, while cooks make an estimated $13.64 each hour ($21,797 a year).

Straightforward pay isn't the only thing to consider. Payscale reports that Chick-fil-A workers receive benefits, including a pension plan, profit-sharing, and insurance for health, life, dental, vision, and disabilities. Chick-fil-A adds that the possibility of college scholarships and free food are also incentives to work for the chain.

As well as people dealing with customers and serving food on the frontline in restaurants, Chick-fil-A requires a robust backbone of roles to enable the company's continued success. Delivery drivers are predictably a big part of Chick-fil-A's ability to provide customers with tasty snacks quickly and conveniently. Reviewers on Indeed believe the role to be good for young people to learn basic skills and a bit of cash, but say income can sometimes be sparse. Indeed estimates average delivery driver pay at Chick-fil-A to be $13.35 per hour, but Payscale puts the national average for this type of role at $15.65.

The dishwasher is another crucial supporting task. Nobody wants to eat food off of dirty plates, do they? According to Indeed, pay for Chick-fil-A's dishwashers is very much in line with similar roles in the company, bringing an average hourly rate of $13.49. Cleaners, on the other hand, are said by Indeed to earn $14.07. The U.S. average for this role is $12.66, as noted by Payscale.

Other jobs in Chick-fil-A include $27,763 annually for trainers, plus $13.68 hourly for marketing interns. Ambassadors for Chick-fil-A's brand can earn around $15.49 an hour, and computer experts for the company's networks achieve average annual pay of $23,739 (or as low as $21,467).

Acquiring knowledge and techniques to climb the corporate ladder is one of Chick-fil-A's arguments for why people should join the company. One of the first steps to take is to become a shift leader, for which financial reward is estimated by Glassdoor to be $31,783 (or $16.10 an hour, according to Indeed). Shift managers, meanwhile, are reputed to take home $34,624 a year, details Glassdoor ($16.75 an hour).

Still higher up the chain of corporate command are store managers, earning $36,776 per year (or $17.88 an hour). Kitchen managers are reported by Glassdoor to make $35,478, while marketing managers earn $39,833, and general managers can get as much as $53,543.

As is perhaps to be expected, the biggest earners at Chick-fil-A are the executives sitting at the top of the company. According to Comparably, the average executive compensation at the company is a hefty $233,533 a year, with the lowest being paid $50,000 and the highest (most likely to be CEO Andrew Truett Cathy, per Chick-fil-A) taking home an impressive $700,000. This is substantially more than Chick-fil-A's store workers but somewhat less than the estimate by Equilar that declares the median pay for the chief executives of America's biggest businesses to be $20 million.

Ultimately worth noting is that Chick-fil-A pay rates vary by state, as each state in the U.S. can set its own minimum wage.