When the rest of the world was introduced to our local Chick-fila-A superstar Jeremiah Murrill a few years ago, I think a lot of Wilmingtonians were validated. Locals spotted his star power at the Oleander Drive location and knew he was capable of great things.
When a happy customer pulled out her phone to film their positive interaction in 2019, the video went viral.
What’s not to love about Jeremiah? He always sports a massive smile, goes above and beyond to serve customers, and makes fast friends with all those in the drive-through. On the day this customer pulled out her phone to record, little did she know she would help launch a new phase of Jeremiah’s Chick-fil-A career.
Once the video was shared half a million times, the story of Jeremiah’s kindness and positivity spread to the local media, Good Morning America, CNN, and other major outlets. The Oleander Drive location was already busy, but after Jeremiah’s moment in the spotlight, customers wanted to get a fist bump and selfie with Jeremiah as well as their usual order. Then last year Chick-fil-A featured him in some of their national commercials, sharing his story.
A GoFundMe account
Jeremiah’s lifelong dream is to open a Chick-fil-A franchise of his own. Customers are always asking when that day will come and now there is finally a way to support him in this dream. In October, he launched a GoFundMe account. His hope is to raise the $20,000 needed for a franchise and so far, loyal customers have donated more than $4,000.
He will need to raise enough funds to cover the cost of a Chick-fil-A franchise ($10,000) and then money beyond that for expenses in traveling and marketing.
In a video on his account, he shared his large family has prayed with him about when to start a campaign to raise funds and they had confirmation it was now time. A number of Jeremiah’s siblings work alongside him at Chick-fil-a and his father is in the music industry. (And thank goodness, because we now have this foot-stomping Chick-fil-A song to jam along with while waiting for our order!)
We love that his whole family is behind him in this dream and it seems like Wilmington is too!
