Clark County’s first Chick-fil-A will open Thursday, Sept. 15, according to company officials.
The fast food restaurant is in the late stages of construction on the northeast corner of Southeast 164th Avenue and Mill Plain Boulevard. Company officials say it will employ approximately 100 people, including full- and part-timers. The 4,500-square-foot restaurant will feature both a dining room and a drive-thru window.
The Atlanta-based company bills itself as the nation’s largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain, with more than 1,950 locations in 42 states and Washington, D.C. In 2015 it had annual sales of more than $6 billion.
Like other Southern chains such as Sonic, which has a drive-up restaurant in east Vancouver, and Golden Corral, which is planning a buffet restaurant in Orchards, Chick-fil-A was a national presence long before coming to the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps as a result, huge crowds have showed up to welcome the chain’s first two Portland-area locations.
In a recent food story published in The Columbian, Associated Press writer Elizabeth Karmel was quick to sing Chick-fil-A’s praises. “Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A famously claims that it didn’t invent the chicken, just the fried chicken sandwich,” she wrote. “There is no denying that the fried chicken sandwich is a classic and crave-able combination. Before I started making my own version of the sandwich, it was always the first thing I would buy to eat when I visited my hometown.”
