After weeks of planning, the Chick-fil-A at Cameron Village opened at 6 a.m . Thursday morning. By 11 a.m ., the line was wrapped around the door.
The first patrons to show up, however, were there 24 hours earlier for a chance to be one of the first 100 customers. Security was still present on-location but was not available for comment.
“We started registering people yesterday morning at 6 a.m ., and we had over 250 people waiting to be one of our participants,” Susan Morris, Chick-fil-A employee, said. “Since we had so many people when registration began, we did a raffle system to select 100 people and then 10 alternates.”
The prizes were 52 coupons each for a #1 value meal — the Chick-fil-A sandwich, fries and a drink.
Local Broughton High School students participated in the opening earlier in the morning.
“It’s been a lot of fun. We had the Broughton High School band and chorus here when we had our flag-raising. We had probably about 75 people here; a lot of excitement with the band,” Morris said.
“It has been wonderful. So far, so good. [The customers] have been pretty steady,” Cindy Oxford, Chick-fil-A employee, said.
As Broughton is close to Cameron Village, many of the students showed up for their lunch break.
“Chick-fil-A is my favorite restaurant, and it’s close to school,” Layne Johnson, student at Broughton High School, said.
The biggest deal about this new location is that it is the first two-story Chick-fil-A . The upstairs was packed with diners, leaving the first floor more open for customers to line-up.
“I liked [the upstairs] a lot. I think it’s set up really well, and there are a lot of people coming around to ask if your food was good and if you need anything,” Johnson said. “This is the best service I’ve ever had.”
The employees working for the opening came from all over the country to help the location get started. There was a woman holding the front door, someone directing patrons to cash registers, and attendants walking around to refill drinks.
“They bring people in from all over. I’m from Florida. We have people from South Carolina, Georgia,” Oxford said. “Some are from marketing, some are doing training in the kitchen.”
In order to ensure that the new location is kept up to Chick-fil-A standards, corporate training stays beyond the opening to help the local employees.
“Marketing is here for a week or two, and then the other trainers for the kitchen and the front counter, they stay anywhere from two to four weeks. But these employees… a lot of them are from the North Hills store, because Ashley, the operator, owns that one, so they are pretty Chick-fil-A savvy,” Oxford said.
As the extra employees will not be around forever, future customers may not be able to expect the service provided on opening day, but Johnson said she would definitely still return to this location for her lunch breaks.
