The much-anticipated reopening of The Johnson City Crossing Chick-fil-A has finally arrived. The renovated Chick-fil-A reopened its doors Monday, Sept. 30, and the response from the community was, as expected, outstanding. The Chick-fil-A had been closed since April 13 while undergoing renovations.
The restaurant was originally supposed to reopen on Sept. 19, but because of construction delays, the reopening was pushed back first to Sept. 26 and then finally to Sept. 30. However, despite the delays, the Chick-fil-A came in on what WJHL reported as a $3.5 million cash budget, so all of the food sold on opening day will be a profit for the restaurant.
The Chick-fil-A was completely torn down and rebuilt during the months it was closed. These renovations made the building bigger in order to serve more customers and be more efficient.
“Our business had outgrown its capacity,” said Director of Marketing Connie Larimer. “We have grown tremendously throughout the years, and it had taken a toll on the building, equipment usage and the space.”
The new building design at the Johnson City Crossing store is the first one of its kind. The renovations include a new layout, a bigger playground with a two-story play structure, outside seating, a larger back of house and kitchen area. The expansion of the kitchen area and the addition of more seating will increase the efficiency of the restaurant.
Another addition is the enhanced drive-thru. “The drive-thru will be a face-to-face experience, unlike before, with personal food delivery,” said Larimer. The drive-thru is also bigger and designed to accommodate substantially more cars than the previous one.
Another new feature is the mobile dine-in offer. This allows customers to place an order with the Chick-fil-A app and skip the line to pick up their food. This is different than On the Go mobile ordering because the customer can eat their food in the restaurant.
With 40 new team members and 80 returning members, the staff of this Chick-fil-A has been preparing for the reopening all summer. “We have had training all throughout the summer,” said Larimer. “We’ve also had many team members travel to new Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country.”
The employees expect large crowds and a continuous flow of customers with the reopening. “We are anxiously waiting to see all our friends that we have missed this summer,” said Larimer. “We have our team in place and ready to go!”
Their opening day was on Monday, September 30, with a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. followed by the grand opening at 10:30 a.m.