A Florida man showing his love of Publix chicken tender sub sandwiches created an online site that makes money and gets Publix's lawyers after him.
Frank Cerabino|Palm Beach Post
It used to be a lot easier grasping what people did for a living.
But now there are legions of people who work full time as social-media influencers, search-engine optimization consultants, app developers and something called “user-experience designers.”
SoI wasn’t completely surprised to learn that Bryan Dickey refers to himself as “customer-experience advocate.”
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Dickey’s LinkedIn page also mentions that he dabbles in “omni-channel marketing, GTM strategy, creative copywriting and digital storytelling.”
Don’t ask me what any of that means. I still think of digital storytelling as sign language.
Anyway, Dickey is a recent University of Central Florida graduate who has found himself in a David-and-Goliath situation with Publix, Florida’s biggest supermarket chain.
It’s all because Dickey, who still lives in the Orlando area, likes the Publix chicken tender sub sandwich so much, he can’t help…er, um… advocating his …um …customer experience …with the chicken sandwiches.
It hardly sounds like fertile ground for litigation. Food providers usually have to pay actors to rave about how good their food tastes.
Dickey does it for free with the zeal of a nut-gathering squirrel.
Chicken-tender sandwich devotee sees Publix subs uniting Florida
In January of 2017, he created a Twitter account called “Are Publix Chicken Tender Subs on Sale?”
“The Internet was polluted with hate and disagreement at the time, and I felt compelled to do something positive,” Dickey wrote. “I created the account with the intention of spreading love and connecting the Internet through positivity.
“Growing up in Florida, I knew there was one thing that connected all people – regardless of political affiliation, race, religion or gender….Publix subs.”
(Oh, excuse me. But I think there’s a mistake with my order. I didn’t ask for extra malarkey sauce.)
Dickey’s Twitter site posted when Publix chicken tender subs would go on sale, new Publix subs were being offeredand basically anything Pub-sub related.
His Twitter followers grew to more than 40,000 people, and he found plenty of ways to express his fascination and adoration of Publix subs.
He explained about how ordering ahead would spare you the wait in line. Or about how praising the work of your sandwich maker would get that employee a free sub. He’d do polls on what is the best beverage to have with a Pub-sub, or what is the Mount Rushmore of Pub-subs.
So how'd he get into hot water? Selling Publix merchandise
Publix didn’t mind all the free advertising from its biggest fan until Dickey started selling Publix merchandise from his site.
Yes, Publix has a line of branded merchandise, including apparel, trinkets, watches, beach blankets, and drink containers.
(Gov. Ron DeSantis sold separately.)
I’m not going to say anything snarky about Publix gear, because well, it’s hard to match the classiness– not to mention peak Florida behavior –of wearing Publix green slides, ($19.95) which have the white-lettered “PUB” on the right slipper and the “LIX” on the left.
“As the account grew over time, I recognized opportunities to generate a profit without challenging the integrity of the goal and mission,” Dickey wrote. “In the past year, I started to prioritize profit over purpose. With money, came problems.”
After getting a “cease and desist” letter from the supermarket’s lawyers last summer, Dickey stopped selling Publix merchandise.
Then he got in trouble with the supermarket’s legal division again in January after he started the “Pub Sub VIP Club,”a way to send text alerts to his followers about when and where Pub subs were on sale.
The supermarket’s lawyers said this was infringement on Publix’ intellectual property. Dickey backed down again, agreeing not to have a VIP club.
“After two cease and desists, I was at a crossroads with how I wanted to proceed with publishing weekly sub sale updates,” he wrote.
So in March, he went silent.
“I felt discouraged, unappreciated and silenced by a corporation that I felt I was providing value for,” he wrote.
One of his followers begged him not to stop, saying that the Pub sub sale account was “doing God’s work.”
'God's work'resumes for Publix sub superfan
Last week, Dickey started posting sub sandwich prices again. He said he came back because he felt the love.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” he wrote. “I can’t foresee how the billion-dollar corporation in Lakeland, FL responds to this. But for now, I will continue to further the goal and mission of why this account was created.”
Jeez, this is like one of those annoying rom-coms, when you know from the start that the two people who are at loggerheads in the beginning are going to pair up at the end.
Just get it over with, Publix. Hire the guy.
Dickey’s courtship with Publix has gone on long enough. It’s time for the supermarket chain to seal the deal.
For this must be the longest job interview / unpaid internship in history for a “customer-experience advocate.”
Whatever that is.
fcerabino@gannett.com
@FranklyFlorida
