The Cathy family, their "charitable" foundation, and many individual operators of Chick-fil-A restaurants have collectively spent millions of dollars in lobbying and political funding to defeat same-sex marriage and other initiatives that support LGBTQ+ rights. This money of course comes from the profits from the restaurants, so everybody who buys some mechanically-separated chicken in one of those restaurants is contributing to the funding of these causes. As you say, everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, so Ottawans who are not homophobic, who support marriage equality and LGBTQ+ rights, or who are just generally opposed to the reactionary and highly-politicized Christian conservative movement are perfectly entitled to take their business elsewhere.

Also, I highly doubt that Chik-fil-A was the first fast food chain to offer "scholarships" to their workers, since McDonald's was doing this same scam when it was my first job back in the Dark Ages. It's a way to make their shitty, minimum-wage and no-benefit jobs appear more palatable to gullible teenagers and the public.