• J.Crew's website temporarily went down and displayed an odd message.
• It read: "JCrew generative AI Backend is healthy."
• The clothing retailer later offered shoppers 20% off due to the "technical issues."

The website of clothing retailer J.Crew crashed Monday, leaving shoppers with a bizarre message: "JCrew generative AI Backend is healthy."

Multiple screenshots posted to social media by puzzled customers showed the statement on the brand's website set against an otherwise blank, black page.

"Wtf is up with the @jcrew website," one online browser posted to X along with a screenshot. J. Crew's customer service account responded to the post shortly after, saying, "We're working to get the site back up and running - sorry for the trouble. Hope you'll check back soon!"

In an apparent attempt to make up for the odd disruption, J.Crew later emailed its customers a 20% discount code that expires on Thursday.

"We're sorry!" the email viewed by Business Insider read. "Thanks for your patience during our recent technical issues at jcrew.com. As a token of our gratitude, enjoy an extra 20% off your next purchase."

It was not immediately clear what caused the website to malfunction or whether it was related to AI. Representatives for J.Crew did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider on Tuesday.

• Restaurant software provider Olo is launching a delivery app.
• Olo will offer the same menu prices for delivery that in-person visitors get, it said.
• Other delivery services often mark up order prices.

A new food delivery service is taking aim at menu mark-ups — and some entrenched rivals

Restaurant ordering software company Olo is launching its own customer-focused app, it said on Tuesday. The app puts it in competition with more established delivery companies, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.

On Olo's app, customers will see the same prices that restaurants charge in-person patrons, the company said. By contrast, third-party delivery services often charge customers higher menu prices than diners would get at a restaurant.

Offering in-store prices can save customers between 15% and 30%, Olo said.

"It's a better experience for consumers and a more sustainable model for restaurants, with no menu price inflation and no barriers standing between great brands and the people and communities they serve," Olo CEO and founder Noah Glass said.

Food delivery is one area where consumers continue to spend money, even as they cut back their budgets elsewhere. How much customers pay for delivery — and whether apps charge individuals different prices or the same order — can affect how often they order.

Olo is stepping into a competitive space. DoorDash and Uber Eats continue to grow, including by rearching into club deliveries and catering. And Walmart, which spent years building its own grocery-focused delivery service, started delivering restaurant orders earlier this year.

Olo got its start in 2005 with a service that let users text their orders to restaurants in the pre-smartphone era. Now, the company fields about 3.5 million orders daily through around 800 restaurant brands.

The company doesn't have its own team of delivery drivers. Instead, the company uses its own dispatch service to compare delivery options at other third-party services, such as Grubhub, and pick one based on factors like cost and speed.

Olo's delivery app will allow customers to order from about 250 restaurants, including Five Guys and Dave's Hot Chicken.

Do you have a story idea about Uber Eats, DoorDash, or another delivery service? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Uber is offering bonuses to some drivers for completing more rides or referring new drivers.
• The bonuses can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars.
• Uber has used such extra pay in the past to attract drivers to the platform.

Uber is offering ride-hailing drivers something that many haven't seen in years: Big bonuses.

The ride-hailing service is coaxing some drivers to take more rides, offering up to several hundred dollars in "incentive" pay if they complete a set number of rides within a set time period, according to several screenshots of the offers seen by Business Insider.

In one example, a driver was offered $525 if the driver completed 45 trips within a few days. Similar offers involved smaller payouts and fewer trips, but paid out proportional amounts of $10 to $12 per trip.

That's a huge pay bump for many drivers, who make as little as a few dollars per trip, said Sergio Avedian, an Uber driver and senior contributor to the gig-driver-advocacy blog and YouTube channel The Rideshare Guy.

The bonuses might also be Uber's attempt to get more drivers on the road to meet rider demand during busy periods like Halloween and the holiday travel season, Avedian said.

"This may tell the story that they need supply," he said. "They're saying that we need to get everybody out there."

Some drivers have also gotten messages from Uber encouraging them to refer friends to sign up as drivers or get those who haven't driven in a couple of years back on the app, according to screenshots seen by Business Insider. Payment for those referrals can reach up to $1,225.

The payments are a potential boon to Uber drivers, whose pay can vary significantly between cities.

Uber drivers have to cover their own costs, such as car maintenance, since they are independent contractors, not full-time employees. Rising gas prices have eaten into drivers' pay after the US and Israel started a war with Iran earlier this year.

An Uber spokesperson did not provide details on why the company is offering the payments.

Uber has used targeted incentive payments before.

In 2021, demand for rides began to outpace the number of available drivers after many had stopped driving during the pandemic.

In response, the company decided "to invest fast and to invest aggressively in attracting drivers back to Uber" and increased the number of active drivers on the app by 65% between January and November that year, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on an earnings call at the time. Uber later pulled back on the extra pay.

"When we were coming out of the pandemic, they were short tons of drivers," said Avedian, who was driving for Uber at the time. "It was crazy bonuses out there."

More recently, riders have been paying more per mile and waiting longer for their rides to show up, according to a study published last month.

Do you have a story idea about Uber? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Walmart is offering a new membership bundle that combines Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus.
• The new combo includes both memberships for less than the price of a Costco Executive membership.
• A key feature of each membership is their increasingly fast delivery services.

Walmart rolled out a perk for its Plus membership programs, taking a shot at rivals Amazon and Costco.

The retail giant said Tuesday that it is offering a membership bundle that includes Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus for $120 per year.

That means existing Sam's Club Plus members now effectively get Walmart Plus included, and Walmart Plus members can add the premium-level club membership for an additional $22.

CEO John Furner took a not-so-subtle jab at Amazon and Costco in a statement announcing the news.

"Consider what people may be paying today: $139 for a retail membership with delivery. $130 for a warehouse club," he said, referring to their respective fees.

Walmart has been taking sharp aim at both retail competitors, with membership perks that overlap in several areas, like streaming entertainment, pharmacy services, and deals from partner businesses.

The biggest perk for Plus members — whether at Walmart or Sam's Club — is an increasingly fast delivery operation that fulfills orders from stores and clubs in as little as 30 minutes. Some orders have arrived in fewer than 10 minutes.

"The bundled offering screens as another signal of WMT pushing more value into its overall ecosystem, and highlighting its rapid delivery capabilities," Mizuho analyst David Bellinger said in a note.

Walmart doesn't disclose membership counts or fee revenue, but Mizuho estimates the chains have about 25 million Walmart Plus members and 30 million Sam's Club members. The bank also estimates an overlap of about 10% between Walmart and Sam's Club members.

Globally, Costco reported more than 150 million membership cardholders, and Amazon is estimated to have more than 220 million Prime members.

• Amazon is hiring more seasonal workers than ever this year.
• The company will also extend healthcare benefits for hourly workers on day one, starting on Jan. 1.
• Holiday hiring is shifting from traditional store jobs toward more e-commerce distribution roles.

Amazon plans to boost its seasonal workforce by 20%, assembling its largest temporary workforce ever.

The e-commerce giant aims to hire 300,000 employees during the holiday rush for its fulfillment and transportation network across the US. The target is up from 250,000 for each of the prior three years. It also plans to offer healthcare coverage on day one of employment for full-time, part-time, and seasonal hourly workers with at least 30 hours a week scheduled, starting January 1.

Seasonal workers who join before January 1 will begin receiving healthcare on that date, the company said. Workers who join after will have access from their first date of hire. The company hires seasonal workers year-round.

Amazon health plans start at $5 a week and include $5 copays. The company previously said part-time and seasonal employees qualified for medical insurance after 90 days, depending on the number of hours worked.

The company says seasonal employees can earn an average wage of more than $20 per hour, while full- and part-time regular employees see an average of nearly $24 per hour. Last month, Amazon increased its minimum pay for core operations workers to $20 an hour and gave all US workers new grocery discounts.

Seasonal hiring has been somewhat of a mixed bag this year, with some traditional retailers like Walmart and Target opting to tap into their existing workforces. Others, like Spirit Halloween, Michael's, and Dick's Sporting Goods have announced plans to collectively hire approximately 73,000 people this year.

A report last week from Indeed found that the seasonal hiring window is starting earlier in the year and shifting from conventional in-store retail toward more e-commerce fulfillment roles.

Amazon says its seasonal roles often fill within minutes of being posted, and that some seasonal workers ultimately find a longer-term position with the company.

• Screenshots of Vinted listings circulating on social media show products being offered for a fraction of their retail prices.
• The suspected stolen merchandise was listed after looting in France.
• Vinted told The Telegraph it had taken immediate action to identify and remove listings connected to the violence.

Resale websites including Vinted have removed suspicious listings after they were flooded with apparently stolen goods in the wake of riots that swept across France.

Perfumes, designer handbags, cosmetics and even Pokémon cards have appeared on second-hand marketplaces following a weekend of violence that saw shops ransacked, The Telegraph — which, like Business Insider, is part of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network — reported.

Screenshots circulating on social media show products being offered for a fraction of their retail prices, including bags overflowing with Sephora cosmetics advertised for as little as €10 (£8.40).

The listings have triggered suspicions that looters are trying to sell stolen goods online. eBay and Vinted have removed some items and stepped up their monitoring of suspicious activity.

One advert on Vinted showed six Sephora lip glosses being sold for €15, while another offered six tubes of cleansing cream for just €12.

Sephora France sells comparable own-brand lip glosses for around €13 each, meaning six would ordinarily cost around €78.

Other listings included Christian Dior perfumes advertised for €250 and large quantities of make-up still in their original packaging.

In one case, Pokémon trading cards allegedly stolen from a shop in Lille were advertised on Vinted, with some still bearing their original price stickers.

Hundreds of cards were reportedly found scattered across streets in the northern French city after a fire at Le Coin des Barons, a shop specialising in collectable cards.

A trophy said to have been stolen from French e-sport club Team Vitality was advertised on eBay for €1,250.

The silver StarLadder Counter-Strike trophy was photographed against a graffiti-covered wall and listed under the title: "STOLEN RARE VITALITY CS2 TROPHÉE."

Team Vitality confirmed that its Paris premises had been looted during Saturday's unrest, with trophies and computer equipment stolen and display windows smashed.

The listings emerged as France struggled to contain some of its worst civil unrest in years, caused by anger over the cost of living and deteriorating public services.

More than half a million people joined demonstrations on Saturday, with violent clashes breaking out in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities.

French authorities said more than 2,400 people had been arrested by Sunday, while nearly 1,000 police officers were injured.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has stepped up powers to ban protests as he acknowledged intelligence "failures" over the riots.

The unrest has spread beyond France, with demonstrations about living costs and public spending also taking place in Belgium, Portugal and Italy.

French retailers have been left counting the cost, with supermarket giant Carrefour reporting damage to 50 stores, including 20 that were looted.

'We have zero tolerance for it'

Sephora closed its French stores on Saturday evening and kept them shut on Sunday after several branches were ransacked.

Vinted said it had taken immediate action to identify and remove listings connected to the violence.

A spokesman said: "The sale of stolen goods, or soliciting them, is strictly prohibited on Vinted, and we have zero tolerance for it."

The company said it had stepped up monitoring and would take action against offenders, including permanently banning accounts. It added that it was working with law enforcement and French authorities to identify suspicious sellers.

An eBay spokesman said: "The sale of stolen property is strictly prohibited on eBay."

The company said it used technology to identify suspicious activity and worked closely with police to investigate criminal behaviour.

The spokesman added: "If we receive confirmation from law enforcement that an item has been stolen, we remove it immediately and take action against the seller."

This story originally appeared on The Telegraph and is courtesy of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces, and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from Business Insider, POLITICO, The Telegraph, WELT, BILD, Onet, and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms.

• As a sommelier, wine is my job — and sparkling wine is my favorite. Costco's a good place to get it.
• Costco has solid prosecco and cava, plus fancy vintage Champagne like Henriot
• There are also great sparkling wines from brands like Roederer Estate and Moët & Chandon.

I wasn't sure if my husband and I would be able to get the full value out of our Costco membership, but I was wrong.

Although not every location sells alcohol, our local Costco does — and I've found this bulk retailer has some of the best wine prices.

This comes in handy because, as a certified sommelier, I buy a lot of wine for tastings, events, and even my own collection. And every time I go to Costco, I seem to discover something new, whether it's a unique variety or an especially great deal.

Here are some of the best sparkling wines I've found at Costco so far.

Editor's Note: Prices and availability may vary.

The Kirkland Signature Prosecco feels like a steal.

Typically around $10 a bottle, Kirkland Signature's prosecco is one of the most affordable sparkling wines I've seen at Costco.

Don't let the price fool you, though. This wine is from the "Superiore" area of the Italian prosecco region, meaning the winemaking standards are higher.

The Kirkland Signature bottle is on the sweet side, and it's perfect for brunch mimosas.

Moët sells millions of bottles of its Champagne every year.

Moët & Chandon Champagne is probably the most iconic wine on this list.

As a sommelier, people often ask for a glass of Champagne whenever they want something fizzy. However, true Champagne has to be made in the Champagne region of France — trust me, it actually makes a difference.

The flavors are much more complex and layered than a standard sparkling wine. There's also something special and luxurious about Champagne.

This bottle is amazing on its own, but also shines with salty snacks such as potato chips, mixed nuts, and popcorn.

Kirkland Signature's Champagne is also hype-worthy.

You may not expect much from the Kirkland Signature brut Champagne, but it's hard to find another bottle like it.

It's true Champagne that I've typically seen for about $21 — it's rare to find a large bottle of the stuff at such a low price.

This variety is a little lighter and fresher than some Champagnes, but if that doesn't bother you, it's a total winner.

Roederer Estate makes a stunning $20 sparkler.

If regions don't matter to you, try this pick from Roederer Estate.

Some big Champagne brands purchase land and make Champagne-style sparkling wines worldwide. In this case, Louis Roederer bought property in Northern California's Anderson Valley.

Its sparkling brut is a delight and I've seen it for $20 to $30 a bottle. In comparison, the brand's true French Champagne goes for closer to $60 to $80.

I like the Californian Roederer Estate stuff so much that I served it at my own wedding.

If you've got Champagne taste on a beer budget, try cava.

Choosing cava is a great way to save money on sparkling wine.

The Spanish sparkler uses the same production method as Champagne but rarely costs more than $20 a bottle. Costco even has one from Blanchard Perez that I've seen for under $10.

Cava is generally dry, with little to no sweetness. I love serving it with appetizers and tapas.

I've also found solid sparkling rosés at Costco.

The only thing more on trend than sparkling wine is sparkling rosé, and Scharffenberger Cellars has a bottle for around $20 at Costco.

The affordable Californian wine is made from grapes grown in Mendocino County and has a cheerful effervescence.

It pairs well with light dishes such as salads, shrimp cocktail, and smoked salmon dips.

For when only fancy vintage Champagne will do, turn to Henriot.

I wanted to include one special, pricier wine on the list, and that spot went to the $150 bottle of Henriot I found at Costco.

It's a vintage Champagne, which means all the grapes were harvested in the same year.

Henriot has been around for over 200 years, and it's one of the few larger brands that's still independent and family-owned. For me, this Champagne hits all the marks for complexity, flavor, acid, and finish.

This story was originally published on February 19, 2025, and most recently updated on October 19, 2026.

• Walmart has more than 2 million workers — 500 of whom are promoted daily.
• Its chief people officer said she observes 2 qualities in those who move up the ladder quickly.
• First, they do the job they have well. They also show they can take more on.

Walmart promotes roughly 500 employees daily — so there's no shortage of opportunities to climb the ladder.

Workers who advance quickly tend to share two qualities, says Walmart chief people officer Donna Morris, who oversees the company's workforce of more than 2 million people worldwide.

The first is staying focused on the job in front of you, she said. Morris said the employees who stand out are motivated to make a difference and excel in their current roles.

"They are focused as much, if not more, on being exceptional at what they're doing today," Morris told Business Insider.

Once you nail the actual job you were given, the next step might be proving you can take on responsibilities for the role above you — before you get the title.

"Be the type of person that takes on over and above what's being expected of you," Morris said. "Be the person that asks or provides volunteerism for new ideas or new initiatives."

That also includes coming up with new ideas or volunteering to help with new initiatives. Morris said those actions show you can take on more responsibility.

In general, when hiring, Morris said she looks for evidence of the "grit that they had to persevere through." At Walmart, where most of its 2.1 million employees begin in frontline roles, she also likes to see that candidates have had some frontline experience. The chief people officer said it doesn't need to be in retail necessarily; it could be babysitting or helping out with a family business.

"If somebody has never really had to identify with what it's like to be a frontline hourly worker, it's going to be very hard for them to lead," said Morris, who started working at 13 at a dry cleaner's before taking a job at a drugstore two years later.

• Hersheypark's "haunt sliders" — scare actors who slide on knee pads — have gained a fanbase on TikTok.
• "The makeup stays ON" commented one thirsty fan.
• The attention has translated to good business for the park, who has seen growing ticket sales for its Dark Nights event.

Imagine you're walking around an amusement park in October while it's Halloween themed. The air is crisp, you've got a giant pretzel, you're strolling with friends to get in line for the roller coaster. Out of the corner of your eye, you see tall man dressed in all black with skeletal face paint walking towards you.

Suddenly, he leaps to the ground on all fours, and against everything you've known in your life about how human beings ambulate, he slides across the pavement on his hands and knees, coasting right up beside you at an incredible speed.

Depending on who you are and your level of awareness of the "haunt sliders" of Hersheypark, this fast encounter leaves you either terrified or terrifyingly horny.

Since 2021, Hershey's amusement park has employed a group of haunt sliders from a crew that calls itself the "Decayed Brigade" for its Dark Nights Halloween event that runs in September and October.

Videos of Fryboy and his lookalike Archer, and others have racked up millions of views and created a dedicated fan base who travel from around the world just to see the creepy, sexy, slidey guys they saw on TikTok.

And their online popularity is good for Hershey's bottom line.

"The comment section [on TikTok] is a treasure trove of insight into their popularity. I mean, we have seen people saying, 'I am coming from Europe. I'm coming from Australia. I had no idea Hersheypark existed, but now, because this was served to me on TikTok, I'm aware,'" said Quinn Bryner, a spokesperson for Hersheypark.

"We have people who have bought our season passes because of it," she added. "So anecdotally, for sure, it has had a significant social commentary, which we think has also led to tickets."

Bryner cautioned they can't say that the haunt sliders popularity is the sole driver of the growth of the Halloween event, but that the Dark Nights has become a success and grown year over year in attendance and ticket sales. "We can confirm that the event's popularity in the past few years has allowed us to expand operating days throughout the fall, resulting in total Halloween attendance doubling the numbers achieved prior to 2021," she said.

For the last three years, Fryboy and some of the sliders do a meet-and-greet for the diehard fans after the performance on weekend nights. Fans wait up to an hour in line to meet them and take photos with the sliders (or purchase keychains or other photo prints from the professional photography service the park provides, which has taken over 4,000 photos for fans this fall so far).

The three sliders I interviewed — who asked not to publicize their full legal names because they are concerned about overzealous fans — have breached containment from something that happens inside the park gates to a full-blown social media phenomenon.

The sliders have anecdotally noticed the effects of TikTok on the crowds in the park. "This year especially, it feels like every other person's coming up saying they drove eight-plus hours to come see us or they just came for us," Fryboy said.

"We see them sit in our zone the whole night and it's pretty obvious that they just want to watch us," Valkyrie noticed.

Hersheypark is well aware of the Decayed Brigade's social media success, which is clear even on its own social channels. The most viewed videos on park's official TikTok channel were all of the sliders — even during the off-season.

Haunt sliding dates back decades

Haunt sliding has been a part of Knott's Scary Farm, the Halloween event at amusement park in southern California, for decades. A few of the performers working there figured out they could modify knee pads and gloves with metal pieces to allow them to slide up on guests as a novel way to scare them.

Sliding became a staple of Knott's Scary Farm, and the trend spread out around the country to various haunted theme parks and cornfields. It evolved into something more than just a scare tactic, with increasingly athletic stunts, choreography, and showcases during the off-season.

Although haunt sliding has become a haunted house mainstay, there is no group of performers who have attracted as much attention from people who never set foot in Hersheypark as the Decayed Brigade crew. This year, there are eight sliders, but Fryboy and Archer — both well over six feet tall, lanky, and with poufy dark hair — seem to have garnered the biggest online fandom.

When I spoke over a video call with Fryboy, Archer, and Valkerie, the current sole female performer in this year's crew, it was the hour before the park opened on a Friday night at 6 p.m., and they were in their full faces of makeup (they have a makeup artist on staff who does it for them), but not their performance clothes.

Fryboy, whose real first name is Carter, is not technically the leader or founder of Decayed Brigade, although he has become the most visible online and has been working at Hersheypark since Dark Nights started in 2021. He first saw sliders at Knott's Scary Farm when he was 13, and was inspired to start trying it out on his own at home. By 16, he got hired at a local haunted house in Florida, and eventually landed a job at Knott's in 2018.

"When sliding first started, it was mainly just a scare tactic and it wasn't really anything crazy, but once people started doing it more and more, a lot of the guys that started sliding at Knott's were stunt performers, so they would do little pre-shows before their stunt show was sliding," Fryboy explained. "They'd go out there and they'd do little rolls, and then they'd start jumping bodies, and then now they're jumping two, three, four bodies. So then tricks started getting added into it, and over time, a group was formed."

"I really think in this case, Carter took it upon himself to create his own iconic character in the social space and then share it amongst an audience that loves scare, but didn't have a way to maybe communicate and build on that," said Brewer Lister, managing director of immersive experiences at Hersheypark.

"He's built a following, and then he and his team have added to it by becoming more of a team in a group, especially Archer, the two of them," he added. "I think they tapped into a growth factor of what's taken place over the many years in social media in a particular realm, and it's worked."

Their fans are…thirsty

It is crucial to explain here that the internet viral around the Hersheypark haunt sliders is not just an appreciation of a good scare. It is extremely horny. The TikToks from fans are often set to suggestive music clips, and the comment sections are bawdy.

In one video from last fall of Fryboy and Archer standing together, set to the chorus of "Same Damn Time" by Future, comments say things like "Fryboy looks like he talks you thru it. Archer looks like he know how to do that thing your ex couldn't do." (18.3k likes) and "the makeup stays ON" (160.8k likes). In another video from this month of the two men, one commenter says, "Ok maybe my ex was right and i'm actually ill."

The allure of scare actors in face paint might not seem obvious. But hear these women out: They're tall, athletic, and mysterious. That's enough.

The thirst isn't limited just to the male sliders. On one video of Valkyrie walking through the park in slow motion, comments from women pour in: "Me and my husband aren't that serious." "I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS AN OPTION," and "i was already hooked but when she smiled i lost all control."

I asked Fryboy about getting that kind of attention.

"I think at the end of the day, we're just trying to perform and have a good time, and it's Halloween, we're dressing up as characters, so there's always going to be something along those lines, I think," he said. "But it's definitely not the end goal in any sort of way."

The sex appeal of the sliders seems to be an accidental collision with a current trend of "dark romance" and romantasy that's popular on Booktok. However, threading the needle of adding sex appeal into a haunted house seems fraught. SeaWorld Orlando's attempted a dark romance themed scare zone, but videos of bare-chested scare actors in masks (including at least one slider) awkwardly gesturing at guests went viral for being high on cringe and low on actual eroticism.

The difference with the Decayed Brigade is they claim they're not intending to be sexy.

"Halloween has always been the holiday for the weirdos, and we're the weirdos," said Fryboy. "We embrace it just as much as I'm sure everyone else wants to embrace it."

• Business Insider has been tracking 45 items at Costco to see how energy costs affect retail prices.
• President Trump's conflict with Iran has disrupted oil and transportation markets around the world.
• Most products have had minimal price changes, but some like motor oil and whey protein are way up.

Like the proverbial pot that's been watched but won't boil, the Costco prices I've tracked this year have remained remarkably calm amid an economy full of heat.

A basket of 45 items I'm following rose 3% since July, but that change is largely attributable to the recent surge in motor oil prices.

Overall, the numbers I see on my local warehouse shelves tell a very different story than what I would expect after following the tumultuous news from around the world. Costco prides itself on keeping shelf prices in its warehouses close to wholesale prices for its members, which makes it a useful early read on supply-cost pressures.

It's hardly a national price index, but it does reveal how global economic forces are showing up in an ordinary US community like Madison, Wisconsin.

My data show that grocery and merchandise prices remain steady, with small hikes and discounts mostly balancing out in the total basket. Meanwhile, some items like motor oil, protein powder, and aluminum foil are starting to show signs of pressure from their respective commodity markets. Costco did not respond to a request to comment for this story.

On a conference call last month, CEO Ron Vachris said the company works with vendors to deal with commodity price increases and keep prices in check. "It's a continual focus for all of our buyers in looking at how to reduce pricing," he said.

But first, it's worth taking a step back.

I've been keeping a close eye on prices over the past year and a half out of concern for the impact that President Donald Trump's trade war would have on everyday items that US households buy.

In January, I developed a list of commonly purchased items that highlight the value of shopping from a wholesale club. After the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran in February, I decided to keep going back to see how conflict in the Middle East would affect grocery bills in the Midwest.

So far, the effects have been surprisingly muted. The full basket rose 2.3% from $864.60 in January to $884.60 on October 13.

The basket rose slightly from January to April, largely because a two-pound bag of Starbucks coffee beans increased by $3.20. In May, the four-pound packs of organic ground beef were replaced with similar-sized packs of conventional beef for about the same price: $24.99. The move helped Costco manage the widely reported rise in beef prices, which has even had hamburger purveyors touting their chicken offerings to customers.

By June, the basket was about $10 below its April peak, as modest reductions across much of the list offset a $10 jump in whey protein, where shortages have continued to squeeze supply.

Bacon and berries got cheaper in July, while Kirkland motor oil rose by $4. Charmin cut 60 square feet of toilet paper from its 30-roll pack but also lowered the sticker price by $3, leaving shoppers with a slightly better unit value.

More recently, refining bottlenecks and attacks on oil infrastructure have sent diesel prices soaring, which is ramping up transportation costs.

In the warehouse, the most visible example of the oil supply problem is the Kirkland Signature motor oil, which shot up to $57.99 — a 60% increase over the price in June.

Meanwhile, blueberries more than doubled in price, from $3.99 in July to $8.99 in October. All fresh berry prices fluctuated by a few dollars throughout the year, so it isn't clear if that change is driven by seasonal availability, transportation costs, or a combination of factors.

Other commodities are facing supply and tariff pressure too: the price of aluminum foil increased from $29.99 in July to $32.69 in October— a 9% increase. It was $26.99 in May.

As tariff refunds near their completion and energy prices continue to climb, a number of food suppliers and grocers have warned that costs are rising. It could be about time for this watched pot to start boiling.

• Matthew Guerrero says gas costs eat up much of his pay as an Uber driver in Southern California.
• He prioritizes giving rides to weekend barhoppers who tend to tip well, he said.
• Uber says that one driver's experience isn't representative of the broader platform.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Matthew Guerrero, a 41-year-old Uber driver in Southern California. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I worked as a firefighter for about four years before I got injured on the job.

I've been seeking a workers' comp settlement that should be settled soon. In the meantime, my lawyer said that I could start working again. I needed a job really quickly, especially with three kids, so I started driving with Uber.

I've been driving with Uber for about five weeks. So far, it hasn't been very successful. For example, one week, I made $600 working 30 hours. To make that, I spent about $300 in gas driving my SUV.

Then, I have to put between 20% and 30% of what's left aside for taxes. That comes out to about $210 for 30 hours of work. That doesn't even include wear and tear on my car. I don't understand how anybody can do this long-term. It's not sustainable.

The pay is better if you drive in Los Angeles or San Diego. But I'm in Riverside County, and the pay seems to be lower here.

To get better-paying rides, you have to be strategic. Sometimes, I try to get a ride with a passenger who's headed to an airport in one of the big cities. Then, I stay there all day and take rides. That's not always feasible, though.

When I started with Uber, I realized that there were a lot of rides that involved taking people to morning doctor's appointments. Most of those people didn't tip well, though, and tips are key to making money.

Instead, I like to work Friday and Saturday nights around bars in Temecula. I usually log on around 4 pm and head home around 3 am. The pay is good, and the tips are a lot better than other rides in my area. Sometimes you have to deal with drunk people throwing up, but it's worth it.

I've given some rides to veteran Uber drivers — people who were working on the app back in 2015 and 2016. They said that they used to make better money than I do, and that they quit after they saw pay fall.

That was eye-opening for me. I don't understand how a company like Uber can pay as little as they do.

An Uber spokesperson said drivers in Riverside County, California make "at least $20.28 per engaged hour, plus $0.37 per engaged mile for vehicle expenses, with tips on top of that."

"While this guarantee doesn't cover time spent waiting for trips, it's important context when discussing driver compensation," the spokesperson said. Driver earnings can vary based on when drivers decide to work, where they drive, and rider demand.

"One driver's experience isn't representative of the broader platform," the spokesperson said.

Do you have a story idea about Uber? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Kiley Pulley became Walmart's youngest US store manager at 21, starting as a cashier at 16.
• Her former store manager helped her through her succession plan and interviews.
• Pulley emphasizes learning daily and adapting for career growth.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kiley Pulley, a 23-year-old Walmart store manager in Buckeye, Arizona. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2019, when I was 16 years old, I started working at Walmart as a part-time cashier. I wanted my own money, and figured, why not just get a job?

My sister and my mom were already working there, and it was also right down the street from my high school. It was easy for me to get out of school and walk to work.

Over the next few years, I moved through different roles, from cashier to stocker to online fulfillment. Then, when I turned 18, I became an academy trainer, and six months later, a digital team lead.

When I became a team lead in mid 2021, it hit me that I wanted to stay at Walmart full time and make it my actual career. At 19, I became an operations manager, and right before I turned 22, I became the youngest store manager at Walmart in the US.

People ask me, "How did you do it?" My answer is to show up and learn something new every day. Here are six things I've learned along the way.

I realized I could help people by hiring them

Originally, I wanted to start either my own nonprofit or my own business and help out the homeless population; then I realized that I could do all that through Walmart.

I could make a difference through the people that I hire and the impact that I have on my associates at the store.

When I became a team lead, I was making good money, and I also really liked it. I started actively working toward becoming a store manager. I got on succession plans and was on monthly calls with our market manager. When I became an operations manager, I led multiple projects in our market to get myself ready to become a store manager.

I'd also ask to cover for store managers when they'd take off work; that way I could gain additional experience that was needed to be promoted. I remember thinking, I'm going to be a store manager at 21. I'll be the youngest in the company.

I had to learn that my words carried more weight

As an associate, I was friends with everybody. I could joke around with everyone. When I became salaried, everything changed.

One of the biggest learning points for me has been the way I talk and how to engage with people from different cultures. Changing my tone and limiting the joking and playful attitude felt necessary as a leader in the building.

At the time, setting new boundaries for myself made me feel more confident in my new role and even now in my current role.

I was a little nervous when I first went into a salaried position. People said I might have issues managing those older than me, but I've never had problems with my team not respecting or listening to me.

I also made my social media profiles private. I think connecting on social media can make it harder to separate between being someone's manager and being their friend.

I had to learn how to delegate

Getting out of the "if I want it done the right way, I'll do it myself" mindset was a big learning. I realized not everyone's going to know everything that I know, and if I really want to delegate and get tasks done, I'm going to have to teach and train.

A big part of being an academy trainer and team lead is training your associates. Once you get to operations manager, you kind of have to step back and expect your team leads and academy trainers to do that same thing.

I had to learn that if I delegated, things could get done faster or more efficiently.

I had to learn to be a servant leader

When it comes to my associates, if they need something, whether that's ordering the supplies or putting in tickets for them, I want to do that. I want to advocate for them.

I know it makes them more productive, but they'll probably be happier coming to work, too.

Also, everyone likes the appreciation of, "Hey, thank you for doing this today," or "Thank you for going above and beyond on this."

I had to learn to have work-life balance

When I first became salaried, I was always on the clock. I stopped going to the gym, and I sacrificed some time with my fiancé and family. I'd stay at work and say, "They need me."

It was my fault; the team didn't need me that badly. Now, I'm doing better. When I get home, I'm not spending the whole day looking at metrics or constantly texting my team. I've gone back to the gym.

I learned to take a step back and trust my leaders to do what they need to do. I trust that they know what they're doing.

I think there's always going to be some event you could miss out on. That can be hard to juggle sometimes, but I'm lucky enough to have a fiancé who's also career-focused and driven, so we kind of use each other as motivation.

I realized I could build a career without giving up on school

I went to college for business and ended up dropping out when I got my salaried position. I told myself that I'd get back into college when I got my first store.

My old store manager was the one who promoted me through all of the hourly supervisor roles. She even prepped me for my first salaried role. She sat in the office reading interview questions with me. Every time I'd say the word, 'um,' she'd say, "Nope, restart."

She was constantly there for me, and even still having her as someone to go to has been great. My market manager has also known me since before I started promoting. Every time I think I'm too young to be in this room, he's always in my corner.

I'm now enrolled in Live Better U, a program where Walmart pays for certain bachelor's degrees. I'm getting some of my foundational courses, and then I plan to get my college degree.

Keep pushing to learn more

For teenagers starting out, I encourage them to do a good job and learn as much as they can.

Companies are constantly changing, especially with technology. It's important to adapt and not be comfortable with what you already know.

When I look at my future at Walmart, I told myself I'd get to market manager at 27 or 28 — that's my short-term goal. Then, long-term, my goal would be regional EVP.

One thing I always remind myself is that I worked hard to get to this life, so I can't be upset now that I have it. Maybe we don't have time to do all the fun things right now, but if we work hard through our 20s, thinking about where we might end up when we're 30 or 40 keeps me motivated.

• Walmart is bracing for billions of dollars in additional fuel costs due to higher diesel prices.
• The company previously said it would put much of its $2.9 billion tariff refund toward lower prices.
• Now, higher fuel costs are likely to erase that benefit, and other retailers are likely to follow.

Just when US shoppers might have thought they dodged the tariff jab, energy costs are coming in with the right hook.

Deutsche Bank says Walmart executives are now expecting the added cost of higher diesel prices to wipe out their total expected benefit from tariff refunds and push prices back up, according to a Thursday analyst note following a meeting with Walmart CFO John David Rainey.

"Elevated diesel is pressuring WMT directly through transportation costs and indirectly as suppliers pass through higher costs, including on petroleum-linked products," the analysts wrote. "Elevated diesel costs are beginning to flow through to consumer prices"

The company is now expecting an additional half to one percentage point of inflation in 2027, the note said. At that rate, additional fuel costs this year and next year will completely erase Walmart's $2.9 billion tariff refund.

Walmart said in August that it had been putting the bulk of that tariff refund money toward lower prices for shoppers.

"Like other retailers, we are not immune to sustained increases in fuel and transportation costs, but we work to minimize their impact," a spokesperson told Business Insider.

The spokesperson also said that many of Walmart's current discounts and holiday deals are time-bound, after which some prices may return to regular levels.

"That should not be characterized as a broad-based price increase," the spokesperson said.

Beyond Walmart, which runs one of the most efficient supply chains in all of retail, the energy impact could be even more pronounced.

The Deutsche Bank analysts noted that competing retailers are also hiking prices in similar categories, leaving Walmart with the relative low-price advantage. The bank also upgraded its rating of Walmart's stock.

• Preorder sales for Apple's iPhone Duo kicked off on Friday.
• Unless you pounced, don't expect to receive your shipment in time for Christmas.
• Shipping dates have slipped into 2027 due to current demand and Apple's initial supply, which was expected to be limited.

Anyone purchasing an Apple iPhone Duo online as a Christmas gift may want to find a backup plan.

Expected shipment dates for new orders of the highly anticipated smartphone model have been pushed back to January 25, 2027. That includes iPhone Duos across all available carriers, colors, and storage sizes. For those who pounced on preorders when they went live early Friday morning, shipments will start arriving as early as October 23.

For latecomers, there is always the Hunger Games that is lining up early outside an Apple store on launch day to try to snag in-store inventory. The cheapest version of the foldable phone, with 256 GB of storage, costs $1,999. The model with 2 TB of storage is priced at $3,199.

While early demand for the iPhone Duo is certainly a factor in pushing back shipping dates, it's not unusual for new Apple products to see extended shipment times. Apple is also navigating "limited" supply due to supply chain constraints, Bloomberg previously reported.

Then-CEO Tim Cook talked about general supply constraints on Apple's broader product lineup during the company's third-quarter earnings call in July.

"If you look forward into the current quarter, the September quarter, we continue to expect high levels of demand," Cook said, speaking of broader product demand. "However, with less flexibility in the supply chain, we expect the impact from the supply constraints to increase significantly sequentially."

• In 1946, Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy opened the Dwarf Grill in Hapeville, Georgia.
• In 1967, Cathy opened the first Chick-fil-A and invented the restaurant's iconic chicken sandwich.
• Chick-fil-A is now the third-largest restaurant chain in the US.

Eighty years after Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, Chick-fil-A is now the third-largest restaurant brand in the country.

The family-owned chain has since grown to more than 3,200 US restaurants and generated nearly $24 billion in US systemwide sales in 2025, trailing only McDonald’s and Starbucks, per Technomic's Top 500 chains report.

The chicken chain's rise has not been without controversy.

Chick-fil-A faced widespread backlash in 2012 after Cathy's son Dan, then the company’s CEO, publicly opposed same-sex marriage, while the company and its foundation were criticized for donations to organizations with anti-LGBTQ+ positions.

This week, current CEO Andrew Cathy declined to directly address the company’s history or state its position on LGBTQ+ equality in an interview with NBC, instead saying Chick-fil-A is focused on hospitality and welcoming everyone who comes through its doors.

Here’s how Chick-fil-A grew from a small Southern diner into a fast-food powerhouse.

Chick-fil-A's origin story began when Truett Cathy opened the Dwarf Grill in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946.

The small roadside diner was later renamed when it became one of the chain's "Dwarf Houses." The original location previously served as one of 12 Chick-fil-A locations, offering modern favorites and items from the original restaurant's "blue menu."

The first official Chick-fil-A locations were located in shopping malls.

The first restaurant to bear the name Chick-fil-A opened in the Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta in 1967.

According to the company, the restaurant occupied just 384 square feet, and some have credited the chain with being an "early pioneer" of what would become the modern mall food court.

Chick-fil-A opened its first stand-alone restaurant in 1986 in Atlanta.

Free-standing locations are now the norm for Chick-fil-A, and mall locations are much less common.

Chick-fil-A also experimented with drive-thru-only restaurant locations.

The first-ever drive-thru-only Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in 1993 in Greenville, South Carolina. By eliminating dining rooms in these locations, the restaurants were designed to be faster and more convenient for customers.

Today, there are more than 3,000 Chick-fil-A restaurants in North America.

The chain, which was founded in Georgia, still has its headquarters there, and is regarded as a "Southern" fast-food chain. However, restaurants can actually be found in 48 different states as well as Washington, DC.

In 2019, Chick-fil-A expanded internationally by opening its first location in Toronto. Later that year, the chain opened its first restaurant in the United Kingdom.

The chain now has locations across Canada, Puerto Rico, the UK, and Singapore.

Before Chick-fil-A began using a cow as its mascot, the chain was represented by — perhaps unsurprisingly — a chicken.

The chain's tag line used to read, "The best thing that ever happened to a Chicken."

Now, Chick-fil-A's slogan pays homage to its most famous menu item — its chicken sandwich.

The "A" in Chick-fil-A comes from both a play on the word "fillet" and a nod to the "grade-A top quality chicken" used in Chick-fil-A's chicken sandwiches.

However, the chain also still uses cows and the words "Eat Mor Chikin" to bring customers through its doors.

The "Eat Mor Chikin" slogan, accompanied by two "rebel cows," debuted in 1995 on an Atlanta billboard, according to the company.

The campaign quickly gained traction and is now regarded as one of Chick-fil-A's most famous and successful advertising campaigns.

The original Dwarf Grill menu served diner favorites like breakfast and burgers.

Menu items included everything from waffles to sandwiches, steak and potatoes, and the chain's famous Hot Brown, a hot casserole dish made with lean white meat chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, cheese, and bacon. 

Today, Chick-fil-A still serves breakfast, but the menu items look much different.

Launched in 1986, the first item added to the breakfast menu was the Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit.

Today, the Chick-fil-A menu typically includes more than 50 items.

At the Dwarf Grill, Truett Cathy's first restaurant, you could order burgers.

The Dwarf Grill served both hamburgers and cheeseburgers, which the restaurant's menu said were made from "100% choice beef, chopped in our kitchen." Served on a large toasted bun, the menu also boldly said that "they're the best."

Business Insider's Hayley Peterson tried the burger for herself when she visited the Dwarf House, and she found the patty "thick and flavorful" and that the cheese "melted perfectly between the patty and the bun."

You won't find burgers on any Chick-fil-A menus, but you will find the chain's famous chicken sandwich.

In 1964, Truett Cathy created the recipe for Chick-fil-A's original chicken sandwich: a fried, boneless chicken breast nestled between two buttered buns and topped with two pickles.

Though the sandwich soon shot to popularity at the Dwarf House, the invention was odd compared to other fast-food offerings and food tastes of the time.

However, Cathy's bet on chicken would soon pay off.

Though Chick-fil-A has expanded immensely since the launch of its chicken sandwich, the recipe has remained virtually the same.

In 1989, Chick-fil-A added a grilled chicken sandwich to its menu.

Introduced as a health-conscious option for Chick-fil-A customers, Cathy introduced the original grilled chicken sandwich alongside the deluxe grilled chicken sandwich, which included the same pickle-juice-marinated grilled chicken, pickles, and white bun, along with lettuce and tomato.

According to the restaurant's website, Cathy tested more than 1,200 recipes to perfect the chain's grilled chicken recipe.

Chick-fil-A revolutionized its menu yet again when it launched its spicy chicken sandwich nationwide in 2010.

"While we recognize that not everyone enjoys spicy food, for the growing customer constituency that does, our Spicy Chicken Sandwich offers a unique, well-balanced and craveable spicy flavor," William F. Faulk, Chick-fil-A's vice president of innovation and new ventures, said in a press release at the time.

A precursor to Chick-fil-A's famous fries was its fried okra, a traditional Southern favorite.

"The batter on the outside is light and crispy, and the okra inside is hot and juicy, with a hint of salt," Business Insider's Hayley Peterson said in a previous article.

Today, the chain's waffle fries are a beloved menu item.

The chain began selling waffle fries in 1985, with the unique shape chosen as a perfect vehicle for dipping sauces.

In 1982, chicken nuggets were added to the menu.

The first Chick-fil-A nuggets came in a six-count box, inspired by customers asking restaurant employees to cut up pieces of its signature chicken sandwich so they could eat them by hand or serve bite-sized nuggets at parties.

"We are still serving the same delicious nuggets today that we started with," Shona Jonson, senior manager of culinary, product strategy, and development at Chick-fil-A, once said.

Today, Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets come in 5-, 8-, 12-, or 30-count packs. 

Chick-fil-A introduced grilled chicken nuggets in 2012.

The item first appeared on the chain's kids' menu before being added to the main menu.

Chick-fil-A's success is largely credited to the chain's founder and CEO, S. Truett Cathy, a devout Baptist who built the family-owned business on Christian values.

Cathy's impact on Chick-fil-A is undeniable, from his decades working at the Dwarf Grill to the invention of the chain's famous chicken sandwich.

Another part of Cathy's legacy that contributed to Chick-fil-A's success was its unique process for hiring franchisees, which also upheld the chain's values of "customer first, personal excellence, continuous improvement, working together, and stewardship."

As the creator of the first Chick-fil-A scholarship fund for restaurant employees, Cathy left a legacy that inspired franchisees and employees across the country to continue his mission of building a customer- and employee-focused fast-food chain.

Cathy's son, Dan T. Cathy, led the company as CEO until 2021.

Dan T. Cathy was made CEO in 2013, two years before his father died. Cathy worked alongside his brother, Donald "Bubba" Cathy, who still serves as executive vice president of the chicken chain and president of the company's Dwarf House and Truett's Grill restaurant concepts.

Both Donald and Dan T. Cathy recall growing up in their father's early restaurants, doing odd jobs like scraping gum from underneath tables and spending time in the Hapeville Dwarf House.

Dan T. Cathy stepped down as CEO of Chick-fil-A on November 1, 2021, but still serves as chairman of the company. He was succeeded by his son, Andrew Cathy.

Over the years, the Cathy family and Chick-fil-A have received criticism for their apparent stances on issues like same-sex marriage.

Chick-fil-A's contentious reputation largely stems from donations made by Chick-fil-A to charities criticized for anti-LGBTQ+ positions, as well as comments made by Dan T. Cathy in 2012.

According to a previous article by Business Insider, the Cathy family and Chick-fil-A donated millions of dollars to groups opposing same-sex marriage, from Christian charities to "more extreme" anti-LGBTQ+ lobbying organizations through the WinShape Foundation.

Some of these organizations included Fellowship of Christian Athletes, an athletic organization that, according to Vox, requires applicants to sign a "sexual purity statement" that condemns LGBTQ+ relationships, the Marriage & Family Foundation, which has spoken out against marriage equality, and Exodus International, a group that supported the use of gay-conversion therapy.

Comments made by Dan T. Cathy in a 2012 interview with the Baptist Press quickly prompted backlash from LGBTQ+ activists and organizations.

In the interview, Cathy said that he believed in the "biblical definition of the family unit," or that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Protests ensued nationwide, including a number of "kiss-ins" led by LGBTQ+ activists, at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country, CNN reported.

Others came out in support of the chain and Cathy's comments. Following the controversy and subsequent calls to boycott the brand, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee created a Facebook page encouraging people to participate in "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" and to buy food from the chain that day, Huffington Post reported.

Cathy did little to quell criticism of his comments when he later clarified his position in a 2012 radio interview, saying, "As it relates to society in general, I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you do as to what constitutes marriage.'"

Protests against the company predate the chain's controversial donations and comments made by Dan T. Cathy.

In 2002, a Houston Chick-fil-A restaurant manager sued the chain for discrimination, Forbes reported. The employee, who is Muslim, said he was fired one day after refusing to pray to Jesus along with their fellow coworkers during a training session.

At the time, Jerry Johnston, a spokesperson for Chick-fil-A, told the Houston Chronicle that the company had not yet been served with a lawsuit and therefore couldn't comment on the dispute, My Plainview reported. Forbes states that the suit was settled out of court on undisclosed terms.

Then, in 2011, a Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A prompted a nationwide boycott of the chain when the restaurant provided free lunch to a Valentine's Day marriage seminar sponsored by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a controversial "pro-family" group that has spoken out against same-sex marriage.

The decision prompted criticism, including a petition that gathered thousands of signatures urging Chick-fil-A to stop discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. However, the franchise in question claimed the decision to donate food was not motivated by any anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments.

"It's absolutely, categorically blown out of proportion," the Pennsylvania franchise owner Brian Gibson said, Penn Live reported. "We donate food all the time. We certainly don't take into consideration anyone's political affiliations or anything like that. We just like to feed people."

Dan T. Cathy released a statement in 2011 following the accusations that Chick-fil-A was anti-LGBTQ+, saying, "In recent weeks, we have been accused of being anti-gay. We have no agenda against anyone. At the heart and soul of our company, we are a family business that serves and values all people regardless of their beliefs or opinions. We seek to treat everyone with honor, dignity, and respect, and believe in the importance of loving your neighbor as yourself."

Cathy continued, saying, "While my family and I believe in the Biblical definition of marriage, we love and respect anyone who disagrees ... Chick-fil-A's Corporate Purpose is 'To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.' As a result, we will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family."

The chain also received criticism for Dan T. Cathy's ties to a charitable organization that notably opposes the Equality Act.

The Daily Beast reported on June 1, 2021, that the National Christian Charitable Foundation (NCF) has donated money to groups actively fighting legislation to protect LGBTQ+ rights in the US. Among the organization's "high-dollar donors" is Chick-fil-A's CEO, Dan Cathy.

The National Christian Charitable Foundation is one of the largest charitable organizations in the country and supports thousands of charities and causes. Among them are the Heritage Foundation and the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, both of which strongly oppose the Equality Act.

Chick-fil-A itself has not donated any funds to Christian charities or political groups in recent years, saying in 2019 that it would instead support charities focused on "three specific initiatives of homelessness, hunger, and education." 

Chick-fil-A has taken steps to overturn its reputation as being anti-LGBTQ.

In 2019, Chick-fil-A announced it would no longer donate to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, two groups that have been criticized as being anti-LGBTQ+.

"We made multiyear commitments to both organizations, and we fulfilled those obligations in 2018. Moving forward, you will see that the Chick-fil-A Foundation will support the three specific initiatives of homelessness, hunger, and education," a Chick-fil-A representative said in a statement to Business Insider.

However, some LGBTQ+ advocates said that while they were hopeful about the decision, Chick-fil-A still has a ways to go before it can be considered truly inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community.

"In addition to refraining from financially supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations, Chick-fil-A still lacks policies to ensure safe workplaces for LGBTQ+ employees and should unequivocally speak out against the anti-LGBTQ+ reputation that their brand represents," Drew Anderson, the director of campaigns and rapid response for GLAAD, an organization that condemns LGBTQ+ discrimination, said in a statement in 2019.

Andrew Cathy, who took over as CEO in 2021, recently declined to comment on the company's "anti-LGBTQ+" past.

When asked to comment on the company's past controversies and criticism from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in 2026, Cathy offered a diplomatic response, emphasizing the company's commitment to serving "anybody" who walks through the door.

"We've always been focused on serving great food and hospitality, and so for anybody that comes in the door, we're going to continue to do that," he said in a recent interview with NBC News.

Despite a series of controversies, the fast-food chain has continued to grow.

Business Insider previously reported that anti-same-sex-marriage comments said by Dan T. Cathy in 2012, controversial donations, and resulting backlash over the years have done little to slow Chick-fil-A's growth.

Today, Chick-fil-A is the third-largest chain in America and has frequently been voted the most popular chain among customers.

Nation's Restaurant News reported that the company generated nearly $24 billion in sales in 2025 and operates over 3,000 locations nationwide.

One thing is for sure — while Chick-fil-A has an undeniably controversial past, there's no stopping the chicken chain from winning over customers nationwide, one chicken sandwich at a time.