Location, Location, Location & Customer Service

Eating at a Chic Fil A last night gave me the idea for this post. I'm fortunate enough to live in Tallahassee where we have 5 Chic Fil A's and because I go to the one closest to my house I grew accustomed to a certain level of service. The person taking my order, though usually high school age, is always polite, management is always visible and even during the busiest times of day I'm always served promptly. Last night I went to a Chic Fil A on the other side of town, closer to where my mother works and received vastly different service. Let me qualify this by saying, that "vastly different" within the context of Chic Fil A's corporate culture is bad, but within the grand scheme of fast food service, its still way better than average.
That started me thinking:

• How much does corporate culture affect customer service practices? 
• How much does location affect customer service practices?
• Can corporate culture & hiring practices supersede customer service issues that arise based on location?

Great Corporate Culture = Great Customer Service
I remember taking an HR class when I went through college for my first degree. We did a little case study on Starbucks and how their hiring practices and corporate culture are connected to ensure better customer service. I wasn't a Starbucks customer at the time so I thought it was complete hog wash. I mean how can you make sure all employees are the positive "sun-shiny" people you want them to be? Time for investigation! So I started going into Starbucks off and on, and not just in Tallahassee, but any port of call I may have found myself in. They totally proved me wrong. I had consistently "perky" service that really truly seemed genuine, not from a saccharine plastic script. That was my first brush with the concept of a strong corporate culture leading to a strong workforce identity.

Location  &  Customer Service
Let's be honest, every city has this invisible line that certain people and certain brands don't cross. That has to have an effect on customer service. Hypothetically, if a Chic Fil A or Starbucks opened in a maximum security prison and was employed by prisoners to serve other prisoners, regardless of their corporate culture, the level of customer service would be abysmal. Granted, that's a seriously unlikely situation and an extreme example of location but 2 things are clear: 1) in a location where ideal employees are unavailable service will suffer 2) customers and their attitudes have an affect on employees and their attitudes. What this means is: 1) stores concerned with service will also be concerned with location. 2) employees that work in a nicer environment and with nicer patrons respond in kind by being nice.

Corporate Culture > Location?
Well yes and no, in my opinion. Let's go back to the Chic Fil A I had last night. Yes the service wasn't what I was used to but because it was Chic Fil A it was still great. However, because location dictates attitudes of employees and patrons no amount of "service first" mantra can truly over come the challenges presented by location.