Former Chick-fil-A Worker Stole $80,000 in Mac-and-Cheese Scheme—and Still Wants His Job Back
Keyshun Jones says the scheme wasn’t premeditated. He still hopes Chick-fil-A will take him back.
After stealing more than $80,000 from Chick-fil-A, one former employee wants his old job back.
Keyshun Jones worked at the Grapevine, Texas, location for seven years before he was fired. Once out of a job, he launched a scheme centered on the restaurant’s mac and cheese.
“As good and delicious as our mac and cheese is, it is unfortunately one of our most expensive items,” Jones told the *New York Post* this week. A catering-sized tray ordered for delivery costs about $100.
Texas police allege that Jones spotted unattended registers, rang up large catering orders of mac and cheese, and refunded the transactions to his personal credit cards. Investigators say he processed roughly 800 fraudulent refunds totaling about $80,000.
Insider refund fraud—employees exploiting point-of-sale systems to divert money to themselves—has become a recurring problem in the fast-food industry, according to loss-prevention experts. Few cases, however, reach the scale of this one.
Jones insists the scheme was not planned in advance. “Everyone thinks it was more premeditated, ‘Oh, I went in there with a plan.’ That was definitely not the case,” he said. He described acting out of anger after losing his job, saying emotions clouded his judgment and led to what he now calls a bad decision.
Surveillance footage identified him. He pleaded guilty earlier this month and received a three-year sentence.
Despite the conviction, Jones hopes to return to Chick-fil-A. He says he remains on good terms with former colleagues and wants to rebuild his life there after parole. He acknowledges he will likely not repay the full amount before his release but says he is committed to making restitution over time.
“I love Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A is my career,” he told the outlet. “I’ve been there since I was 15 years old, it was my first job. And I hated that things had to end that way.”
Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to a request for comment.