Rhode Island's First Chick-fil-A to Open Thursday

Rhode Island’s first Chick-fil-A® restaurant will open Sept. 4, bringing more than 70 new jobs and the chance for 100 adults in line on grand opening morning to win free Chick-fil-A meals for a year.

After 10 years and more than $21.5 million in free food given away, Chick-fil-A’s “First 100” celebration continues to be the chain’s signature grand opening event which transforms the restaurant parking lot into a 24-hour community friendly party as the crowd awaits the opening. 

The new Warwick restaurant at 1500 Bald Hill Road will host the next First 100 event that will award a total of $30,000 in free food. A digital offer card loaded with a one-year supply of free Chick-fil-A® Meals will be given to each of the first 100 eligible adults, ages 18 and older with identification, in line when the doors open about 6 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4. If more than 100 people are onsite when the line officially opens at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 3, then all 100 spots will be determined by a drawing held that morning with those selected needing to camp out for 24 hours to secure their spot. 

For complete rules, see Chick-fil-A First 100 Promotion.

Chick-fil-A believes in partnering with individuals and organizations that work to enrich education, literacy and youth. In that spirit, Bald Hill Road Chick-fil-A Operator Toushoua Xiong is collecting new children’s books at his restaurant on Wednesday, Sept. 3, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Anyone who donates at least one new book will receive a coupon for a free Chick-fil-A entrée (one per person). Those camping out for the First 100 promotion also will be engaged in the book drive with the top collector receiving an additional prize.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ocean States has been selected by Xiong to receive the nearly three-foot-high Book House. The organization provides children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-on-one relationships that change their lives for the better. The new books collected during the grand opening celebration will be placed in the Book House to serve as a free library exchange – allowing anyone to take a book after replacing it with one of their own. The Book House, created from old and thrown out wood, is one of several community programs and opportunities being made possible through the generous support of the Chick-fil-A Foundation (www.chick-fil-afoundation.org).

The opening of Rhode Island’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant will create more than 70 new jobs. Featuring the chain’s newest interior and kitchen design, the new location can seat 70 in the dining room with additional outside patio seating for 40. The restaurant includes dual drive-thru ordering lanes to expand the chain’s award-winning drive-thru service.  It enables motorists to place their orders at separate screens and then merge into a single lane to pay for and pick up their orders. With a majority of customers at Chick-fil-A stand-alone restaurants choosing drive thru, the ability for two drivers to simultaneously order will mean quicker service.

Customers will be able to stay connected through the restaurant’s free Wi-Fi and parents will appreciate the indoor play area that includes an interactive section for toddlers. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to

10 p.m., serving a full breakfast menu until 10:30 a.m.  Like all Chick-fil-A restaurants, it will be closed on Sunday.

The new location will make it easier for area residents to “Eat Mor Chikin.” Currently the closest Chick-fil-A restaurant is about 60 miles away inside the Burlington Mall in Burlington, Mass., and the closest stand-alone Chick-fil-A restaurant is almost 100 miles away in Chicopee, Mass.  

Xiong, who graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in biology and sociology, worked in the health care industry before considering a career as a Chick-fil-A operator at the urging of his cousin who is a Chick-fil-A operator in Maryland.  Already active in the local community, Xiong and his wife, Pang Voua, and their two children are thrilled to be opening Rhode Island’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Warwick.

“Personalized customer service and freshly prepared food have been the hallmarks of Chick-fil-A since the day Truett opened his first restaurant,” said Xiong. “My team members and I couldn’t be more excited to continue that legacy with our customers in Rhode Island.”

The new Chick-fil-A on Bald Hill Road is one of 88 new restaurants the chain plans to open across the country in 2014, creating more than 6,600 new jobs. Chick-fil-A continued to grow in 2013, increasing the number of new restaurants initially planned for the year and reporting record-setting annual sales of more than $5 billion, the 47th consecutive year of sales growth since the company began in 1967.

For more information on the new Warwick Chick-fil-A restaurant, visit www.chick-fil-a.com/baldhillroad or find us on Facebook at Chick-fil-A at Bald Hill Road

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