Meet Bryan Shepard.

Bryan Shepard, Owner/Operator of Chick-fil-A Lilburn, is an involved leader, dedicated to building up others to serve the greater Chick-fil-A vision and to serve within the Lilburn community. His wisdom, passion, and care can be seen in the way he leads and cares for his business and team.

Bryan Shepard's Story

Bryan’s Chick-fil-A story begins when he was a high-schooler in 1988. He was first hired to work under Gene Robinson at the North Dekalb Mall Chick-fil-A. It was there he developed his love for Chick-fil-A. In the summer of 1990, Bryan became the assistant manager at North Dekalb Mall. 6 years later, he became the General Manager for that location. In January 1997, Bryan was hired by the Chick-fil-A Support Center. He was now a part of the Interim Manager Program, where he would travel to different locations across the country to run different Chick-fil-As. Finally, in October of 1997, Bryan became an owner/operator of the Phipps Plaza Chick-fil-A, located in the heart of Buckhead in Atlanta.

Bryan at Phipps Plaza.

Bryan with Truett Cathy in 1997.

This is when Bryan’s legacy truly began. Two years later, in 1999, he also became a licensee operator of the Chick-fil-A in Emory University. He continued in that role until 2013. After his success over the years at Phipps Plaza, he then became the owner/operator of the Snellville Chick-fil-A in June 2003. Just 3 years later in 2006, Bryan became a Symbol of Success Award Winner at Snellville. Symbol is a program in Chick-fil-A that awards operators that achieve a 20% sales increase over the previous year.

The Snellville Days

After 4 years at Snellville, Bryan became the owner/operator of the Lilburn Chick-fil-A in August 2007. Bryan has accomplished a lot over the years at Lilburn. In 2013, he was selected to become an Operator Coach. Operator coaches are assigned to newly selected operators in their training. He helps to develop new operators and lets them learn from his experiences. One of the things Bryan loves the most about this role is the chance to be able to give back to Chick-fil-A and pour into the next generation of Chick-fil-A operators.

Bryan with some of the people he has coached.

2015 was a big year for Lilburn. Bryan was able to lead Lilburn to be a Symbol of Success winner as well as a Champions Club Award winner. Champions Club is awarded to operators who achieve an elite level of sales and profits. Then, Bryan was able to do it again for Symbol of Success the very next year in 2016. During this time, Lilburn was #10 in the chain for Outside Sales (OSS). OSS was over 11% of all total sales that year. He was able to reach #13 in the chain again in 2018, with OSS accounting for over 10% of all total sales.

Over the years at Lilburn.

In January of 2020, Chick-fil-A Lilburn closed for 6 months for a major remodel. When Lilburn opened back up in July of 2020, it was the newest model restaurant in the chain. Lilburn saw exponential sales increases due to the addition of the second drive thru and opened all possible sales channels post-COVID. He was one of the first Chick-fil-A’s to open back the dining rooms and playgrounds. Bryan continues to be a pioneer in sales building by leading Chick-fil-A Delivery, which he started in July 2020.

Throughout his career Bryan has lived out Chick-fil-A's corporate purpose,

"To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A"

Bryan is most proud of the impact he has had on the lives of his team and community. There have been nine different leaders that Bryan has developed and been able to achieve their goal of becoming a Chick-fil-A owner/operator or corporate staff.

Influence