Well, they are mentioned in the first sentence, and repeatedly returned to throughout. Any of the other restaurants are done in group references, without being singled out. My suspicion was up as the entire first person framing of the article began, pulling the reader into this fantasy reality where fast food meals are paid for by strangers. Perhaps its the lack of any point to the article. Sure, I can accept human interest articles, but that one smells to fishy.

> this fantasy reality where fast food meals are paid for by strangers

This is not a fantastical practice. While it is not particularly common, I've heard of it quite a few times (most of which had nothing to do with Chick-fil-A) and have done similar things myself.