Traveling trainee Meghan Welch

from Bainbridge Living Summer 2022

by thepostsearchlight

Photographer Becky Bardin

20 BAINBRIDGE LIVING / Summer 2022

SERVICE WITH A SIDE OF SCENERY

Meghan Welch shares her travel trips through her job with Chick-fi l-A

BY JILL HOLLOWAY

Chick-fi l-A is known for their quality customer service, friendly faces and southern hospitality. However, they are also known for giving employees the experience of a lifetime, allowing them to see the United States in hopes of spreading that southern hospitality.

Meghan Welch is currently a team leader at Chickfi l-A Bainbridge, and was formerly a training director.

During her time working for Chick-fi l-A she has traveled with the company to Illinois, California and most recently, Massachusetts.

“You have to be a team member for Chick-fi l-A for sixth months before you can sign up to become part of their fi eld of talent,” Welch explained. “They then onboard you as a corporate grand opening trainer and you’re given diff erent service opportunities, depending on where they are opening in the US.”

In order to become part of the fi eld of talent, Welch was required to go through a background check and select from a list on the website where she would be willing to travel. Welch said the website is constantly updated with new locations, refreshing every three days.

“There’s always a new store opening, but I’ve always chosen places that I’ve never been before,” she said.

Welch’s fi rst venture with Chick-fi l-A was to Chicago, before she traveled to California twice for grand openings. She also participated in the grand reopening of Chick-fi l-A’s Dwarf House in Woodstock, Georgia.

“The Dwarf House was one of the original Chickfi l-A’s, so they did a complete scrape and rebuild of the whole restaurant into a more modern style,” she explained.

Since the Dwarf House, Welch had taken a break from corporate trips to focus on school, but when the opportunity presented itself to travel to Fall River, Massachusetts for two weeks to help with a grand opening, she couldn’t turn it down. Welch saw this as

Summer 2022 / BAINBRIDGE LIVING 21

Meghan’s work trips took her to Chicago ,California, and Massachusetts where she visited Wrigley Field, Disneyland and Martha’s Vineyard (page right). They also prompted her to take personal trips to Hawaii (page right).

the perfect time to tour the scenic area of Martha’s Vineyard as well.

“Chick-fi l-A will give you two off days when you’re traveling like that,” she said. “We have the grand openings on Thursday, and the trainees are brought in on a Wednesday. On the day the trainees are brought in, they usually give us that as an off day, since we’ve already been there for a week.”

Depending on how long Welch has been there, she said she usually takes her off day on a Wednesday or a Sunday, and while most would rest, due to the 120-hour work-week, Welch said she takes the opportunity to explore.

“I’m always going to try to make the most of it,” she said. “If someone is fl ying me out to California, I’m not going to sit in a hotel room.”

Welch said she usually wakes up early on Sunday mornings, before watching her church livestream. She, along with several other trainers, who made plans during the week then all load into a rental car and go exploring.

During her time in California, she said they had the opportunity to visit Disneyland.

“We were there from rope drop to shutting off the lights, before we went and worked another 16-hour day,” she said. “We are jamming all of this fun into work trips we are doing.”

One of Welch’s more memorable trips was her fi rst grand opening in Chicago. She said she was there during Thanksgiving, but most everything was closed due to the COVID-19 mask mandate at the time. Not to be deterred, Welch and several other trainers took a rental car to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to eat a hot meal at Cracker Barrel.

While in Milwaukee, Welch saw where they make the diff erent types of cheeses, before visiting Miller Park and several other Major League Baseball fi elds.

“I always feel like it’s an honor to be brought out here by my job, so I try to tell everyone that when we are off we need to experience things that we couldn’t at home,” she said. “I think that’s why I love my job, because they are constantly growing and we get to show people that southern hospitality.”

22 BAINBRIDGE LIVING / Summer 2022

Welch said that Midwestern states are still not as familiar with Chick-fi l-A and the fanfare that surrounds it.

“It’s amazing to see the culture change when you go somewhere,” she said. “When I opened up a Chick-fi l-A in Victorville, California, people waited four hours in line to get to Chick-fi l-A.”

While it was an overwhelming crowd and the hottest grand opening Welch has ever worked with temperatures rising over 100 degrees, Welch said it was by far her favorite, because of her visit to Disneyland.

“It was cool to see what Walt Disney had imagined, because this was the only project he ever saw all the way through,” she explained. “It’s smaller than what’s in Florida, but they packed just as much fun and excitement in a smaller vicinity.”

This was also a special moment for Welch, as it was something she had always imagined as a child. She said her mother had taken her to Disney World when she was really little, but her father never got to experience it. She has since made it her mission to take her dad, Doyle to Disney now that she can aff ord it.

“My dad has always supported me in working for Chick-fi l-A,” she said. “It may be a small job to some, but I’ve seen the world through it, and a small job, if you do it well, has big benefi ts.”

The experiences Welch had throughout the United States gave her a newfound passion for traveling, so she booked a trip to Hawaii for her 21st birthday with her friends, Gianella Pallotti, Ridge Baggett and Gage Timmons.

While in Hawaii, Welch and her friends stayed at an AirBNB in Kailua-Kona, also known as the Big Island. There, they attended a luau that depicted the islands of the Pacifi c.

“All of their dances represented diff erent islands, along with the diff erent foods that were provided,” she said.

In addition, she visited Kona Brewing Co., Rainbow Falls, Kahuna Falls and Akaka Falls.

Welch loved her time in Hawaii and the history behind their rich, diverse culture. Her dream would be to learn more about the culture, while being able to help host a grand opening for Chick-fi l-A.