Chick-fil-A Is Finally Coming to New York City This Summer The Southern chain is set to open the first of 'many' locations in the Big Apple.
By Kate Taylor
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Chick-fil-A-loving New Yorkers rejoice – the chain has finally announced when its first Chick-fil-A will open in Manhattan.
On Tuesday, the Atlanta-based chain announced plans to open its first franchise location in New York. The restaurant is projected to open late this summer, in Manhattan near Herald Square.
"Until now, the only place you could enjoy our food [in New York City] was on the campus of NYU," Carrie Kurlander, Chick-fil-A's vice president of public relations, said in a statement. "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, as it will be the first of many locations in the city."
Related: Chick-fil-A Finally Enters the Fast-Food Coffee Battle
Chick-fil-A first announced plans to bring the chain to New York City last April. The chain had said it planned to open 108 restaurants in 2014, primarily in urban locations with a "sizeable chunk" in New York City. At the time, Chick-fil-A said that urban locations would feature more natural wood and that chef's coats would replace employees' traditional uniforms.
Over the last year, Chick-fil-A has made a series of adjustments that seem to subtly boost quality, adding specialty-grade coffee to the menu and rolling out a new grilled chicken recipe. The changes seem to be paying off – in 2014, the chain became the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain based on annual system-wide sales, with the company reporting that it reached $5 billion in annual sales in 2013.
Related: Chick-Fil-A Founder to Be Remembered for Vision, Values
