School is out for most kids across the nation, and some parents are willing to shell out cash to keep them occupied for the next few months until classes resume.
Summer camps, where kids are sent to programs to enjoy outdoor activities, games etc., are booming in popularity this time of year. One fast-food chain has decided to roll out its own version of summer camp for kids, but it has run into controversy along the way.
A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Louisiana is facing outrage on social media after it introduced “Chick-fil-A Summer Camp,” which costs $35 per child and is set to run for six days in July.
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Kids at the program will “get a behind the scenes look of Hospitality and Service” and “have a fun time getting a behind-the-scenes view of what it’s like to work at America’s favorite quick-service restaurant,” according to a post the local restaurant made on Facebook on June 6.
What sparked backlash was what was described in a previous version of the post, which detailed what the kids will specifically be doing in the program.
The restaurant previously revealed that kids enrolled in the program will be “learning dining room host and customer service skills, learn how to take a guest order, learn how to bag a guest order, tour the kitchen and box your own nugget and make your own ice dream cone or cup,” according to Fox Business.
Social media users quickly fired off in the comment section under the post with many claiming that the Chick-fil-A was exploiting people’s children for free labor at their establishment.
“So people pay you money, and you get free child labor but call it a camp? Sounds legit. I'm gonna start my own summer camp where parents pay me money and the kids come over and clean my house and yard,” wrote one Facebook user under the post.
“Yes because let's be excited about having our 5-12 year olds so volunteer work for a for profit corporation because they can't find enough people to hire to do the jobs,” wrote another user.
“Every person who thinks this is a good idea should be in jail,” added another person.
The backlash in the comment section appears to have led to the restaurant to omit some of the details about the program from the post.
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In a statement to Fox Business, Chick-fil-A clarified that the summer program isn't new, and that the idea stemmed from one of the chain’s locations in Houston six years ago.
“Some local restaurants create their own programs to engage with the communities they’re located in,” said a Chick-fil-A spokesperson in the statement. “Chick-fil-A restaurants are locally owned and operated by people who live and work in the communities their restaurants serve.”
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The controversy comes at a time when child labor violations in the food industry are on the rise in the U.S.
According to a recent report from The Washington Post, the U.S. Department of Labor found that over 4,700 teenagers under the age of 18 were working in violation of federal child labor laws, which bans the employment of kids under the age of 14, and stops 14- and 15-year-olds from working later than 7 p.m. and more than three hours on school nights.
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