Exclusive | Chick-fil-A worker who stole $80K with mac & cheese scheme reveals why he did it

The cheese was worth a lot of cheddar.

A former Chick-fil-A employee who stole more than $80,000 revealed to The Post why he chose mac & cheese to carry out the scheme — because it’s one of the eatery’s priciest catering items.

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Keyshun Jones, 23, pleaded guilty earlier this month to ringing up around 800 phony mac & cheese orders and refunding them to his personal credit cards at a restaurant in Grapevine, Texas, last November.

“As good and delicious as our mac and cheese is, it is unfortunately one of our most expensive items,” Jones said Wednesday when asked why he chose that side, which costs about $100 a tray when ordered for delivery.

Jones pulled the cheesy caper after losing his job at the restaurant chain, where he said he had worked for seven years.

He came back to eat with his friends, saw an unattended register, and decided to make his move, he claimed.

Security camera footage shows Jones slipping behind the counter and ringing up tray after tray of the cheesy favorite.

“Everyone thinks it was more premeditated, ‘Oh, I went in there with a plan.’” That was definitely not the case,” Jones told The Post from jail in Tarrant County.

“I let anger, as most people do, let anger and those feelings get in the way, and I went, and I made a bad decision,” he added.

Prosecutors had asked for a 10-year sentence for fraud and property theft, but Jones and his lawyer managed to bargain down to three years, minus time served, on Aug. 13.

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“My attorney spoke with the DA, and we kind of explained everything. We all came to an agreement where it wasn’t one of those heinous acts … They got to know, ‘This guy isn’t what we all thought he would be,’” Jones said.

Jones — who claimed he is still on good terms with his old colleagues — wants to get out on parole soon and rebuild his life, ideally at Chick-Fil-A.

“I love Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A is my career. 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,” he said.

“I’m not what the internet claims me to be. I’m goofy. I’m fun. I’m kind-spirited. Everyone seems to like me … Hopefully I can show the rest of the world that I’m worth that second chance,” he said.

His wife, Keana Jones, seemed to agree.

“He’s a sweet boy,” Jones told The Post.

Jones’ former boss, who owns the Grapevine restaurant, declined The Post’s request for comment.

The convicted fraudster admits Chick-Fil-A probably won’t give him his job back when he’s set free, but he believes another eatery will let bygones be bygones.

In the meantime, he won’t be getting much mac & cheese in jail.

“There was just one time they did serve mac & cheese here. The irony of it all,” Jones said.

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