By ,
Published November 25, 2016
Chick-fil-A is hitting the Big Apple in a big way.
The Atlanta-based chain plans to open a stand-alone three-level, 5,000-square-foot restaurant at the corner of Sixth Avenue and W. 37th Street in Manhattan in late summer, Crain’s New York Business reported.
Each floor of the massive space near Herald Square is expected to have 2,200 square feet of space that will house about 80 seats.
“This location will allow us to serve fans who have been asking us to come to New York and to earn the opportunity to serve new customers,” Carrie Kurlander, vice president of public relations told Crain’s.
The chain has a small outlet in a New York University campus food hall, but this will be the company’s first freestanding restaurant in the city.
But just because it’s the city that never sleeps, don’t expect it to be open on Sundays. Keeping with Southern tradition, all of the company’s nearly 2,000 close on Sundays.
The move to New York might have been unthinkable three years ago. In 2012, just as the chain was looking to move into Boston, then-Chief Operating Officer and current CEO Dan Cathy created a controversy when he told the Baptist Press that he backed the "the biblical definition of a family."
That sparked national protests and boycotts of the chain.
And despite some who feel that Chick-fil-A's anti-gay action could be a turn off for some New Yorkers, the chain is betting that customers wouldn’t be able to resist its food –which still gets voted as having the best chicken sandwiches around.
Chick-fil-A is still planning to open more locations within the five boroughs this year and next year.
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/chick-fil-a-to-open-a-massive-restaurant-in-new-york-city