The Chick-fil-A restaurant on North Druid Hills Road at Briarcliff Road is expected to close in July. The restaurant, the first freestanding ever with the Chick-fil-A brand, opened on April 16 1986. The restaurant will be demolished and rebuilt with plans to reopen in November. "Both of the mentioned dates are not definitive."
Although the restaurant has been renovated many times in its 31 year history, the decision was made to start from scratch and rebuild.
I'd heard about these plans for months but only recently have they been firmed up to the point where employees have been informed and the permitting process has begun.
In collaboration with the local operator, Greg Mapoles, and Chick-fil-A's real estate team, I was able to confirm a few facts relating to the new restaurant.
The new Chick-fil-A will be the same size as the current restaurant and will have an inside playground.
While the restaurant will be the same size, there have been many advancements in restaurant design in the past 30 years, so the new restaurant should be more efficient in every possible way.
Last month, Chick-fil-A closed their Dwarf House restaurant in Newnan. Like the North Druid Hills restaurant, the Newnan Dwarf House was older, (built in 1993), and is being replaced with a new restaurant. During the time the restaurant is being rebuilt, a temporary Chick-fil-A, constructed of five shipping containers, was assembled on the restaurant's property to both provide food to customers (about 2/3 of the menu) and also retain the jobs of the restaurant's 100 employees. The Newnan location is expected to reopen later this summer as "Truett's Chick-fil-A restaurant."
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| The temporary Chick-fil-A in Newnan |
While “No, there will not be a pop up container for the North Druid Hills location," employees who do wish to keep working will be offered temporary jobs at other nearby locations and or with corporate.
Chick-fil-A repesentatives indicated that it was too early to discuss what, if any, special celebrations may take place to commemorate the historic restaurant's reopening. Based on the openings of other Atlanta area Chick-fil-A restaurants that have been rebuilt (Windy Hill, and soon, Akers Mill), I would expect the restaurant to offer some variation of the First 100 promotion.
The Akers Mill Chick-fil-A will celebrate its reopening with the First 100 promotion next month. The restaurant will a provide year's worth of free food (52 #1 meals) to the first 100 adults who stay at the restaurant for a full day in advance of the planned May 11th opening. Complete rules and qualifications can be found here.
In addition to the North Druid Hills, Windy Hill and Akers Mill rebuilds, other Chick-fil-A rebuilds are expected in Douglasville and Sandy Springs. Both locations are drive-thru only, and will reportedly remain that way after being rebuilt. The Sandy Springs location is in the 8400 block of Roswell Road, while the Douglasville location is in the 5800 block of Fairburn Road. Both rebuilds are expected to take place later this year.
There are a number of other Chick-fil-A restaurants in metro Atlanta built around the same time as North Druid Hills and shortly after, that could also be rebuilt.
These locations include restaurants in Douglasville, Tucker, Chamblee, Doraville, Duluth (2), Smyrna, East Cobb, Marietta and Lilburn, among others.
Do you live near North Druid Hills and are excited for the new restaurant? Where will you get your Chick-fil-A fix while the restaurant is closed? What is your favorite menu item at Chick-fil-A?
Please share your thoughts below.