Chick-Fil-A has thanked a loyal customer with free food for life.
Ernie, a World War ll veteran, comes into this Indiana Chick-Fil-A almost every day of the week and the 92-year-old always orders a chicken nuggets children’s meal with root beer.
During his trips to the restaurant, he’s become close friends with the staff, who take turns sharing a table with the vet.
The owner of the Avon location, Chris Tincher, is a veteran himself and wanted to thank Ernie for his service. “This is the all-American grandpa, I think. He just, I mean, he just makes you feel good.”
Ernie likes this particular Chick-fil-A saying,”I like nuggets, and if you want a good one, this is the place to come.”
Melissa Luebbert, Chick-fil-A Avon executive director, said, “We’re just fascinated because he’s always like, ‘Well, I just mowed my lawn’, and he push mows.” And she continued, “He’s just so warm, and anytime you take his food to him, and he’d be, he’d ask how we were doing and then it got to where we just built a friendship.”
At first Ernie wouldn’t accept the free meals for life saying, “I don’t know, it was kind of a shock to me, and I didn’t think I really deserved a free meal.”
Luebbert concluded that they would be lost without Ernie and added, “He is definitely a bright spot in our day.”
Ernie plans to keep ordering the children’s meal, even though he can now eat anything for free.
