The fast food chain really wants to find out who stole its catering van. 

By Elisabeth Sherman
November 16, 2017
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If you were the giant and wildly popular fast food chain Chick-Fil-A and one of your catering vans was stolen, what type of extreme action would you resort to, to make sure that those responsible face justice? After calling the police, I mean. You might recruit your vast network of fans to help you find the person who stole it. That’s just what Chick-Fil-A did, promising free food for a year to the person who is able to track down or turn in the person behind the theft.

As Fox News reports, a Chick-Fil-A location in Georgia claims that one of its catering vans was stolen last Sunday morning. Later, the van was found under mysterious circumstances—it had been crashed into a parked car in the driveway of a home, and then abandoned. The fast food chain obtained grainy photos taken from a video surveillance of the still-unidentified suspect—which it distributed publicly in the hopes that someone might recognize him or her. The chain believes the person in the photos absconded with the truck, but he or she (obviously) has yet to be arrested.

Clearly not satisfied with the investigative powers of local enforcement, Chick-Fil-A decided to turn to the public—thinking that perhaps the masses would mobilize into amateur private detectives if promised a year’s worth of free chicken sandwiches. Given its popularity, there might a public risk at hand here: If you were awarded free fast food for a year, wouldn’t that be the only thing you ate? The answer is ‘yes’, don’t even try to deny it.

Chick-Fil-A promises that any information given to the chain in connection with the suspect’s capture will remain anonymous (although you’ll probably have to reveal your identity if you want to claim your prize). Whatever was inside that truck—probably just like, a lot of frozen chicken patties, I assume, although who knows, maybe it was something more precious—must be really special.