Enfield Head Start to Benefit from Chick-fil-A Opening

Enfield’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant will open Feb. 26, bringing 85 new jobs, the chance for 100 adults to win free Chick-fil-A meals for a year and the opportunity for community members to donate books that will benefit the Enfield Head Start Program.

After 11 years and nearly $24 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 stand-alone Enfield restaurant at 25 Hazard Ave. will host the next First 100 event that will award more than $32,000 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, Feb. 26. If more than 100 people are onsite when the line officially opens at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 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. More information about the promotion is available at www.chick-fil-a.com/Locations/First-100.

When Chick-Fil-A opened in Brookfield last fall, people camped out for days in the rain, hoping to score one of those free-for-a-year bonuses. And according to the Enfield Senior Center’s Facebook page, “Chick Fil A is bringing hundreds of free chicken sandwiches to the Senior Center on Friday, February 20 at noon.”

Chick-fil-A believes in partnering with organizations that enrich education, literacy and youth. In that spirit, Chick-fil-A Enfield Operator and area native Steve LaVoye is collecting new children’s books to benefit Enfield’s Head Start Program through the day on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and from 9 a.m. until closing on Thursday, Feb. 26. The books collected will be placed in a nearly three-foot 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 support of the Chick-fil-A Foundation (www.chick-fil-afoundation.org).

The Enfield restaurant will feature the chain’s newest interior and kitchen design, with seating for 150 in the dining room with additional outside patio seating. The restaurant will have dual drive-thru ordering lanes. The restaurant also will offer free Wi-Fi and an indoor play area for toddlers.

Born and raised just nine miles away from Enfield in Windsor Locks, LaVoye will be reuniting with much of his family who reside in the area. A retired U.S. Air Force colonel, LaVoye holds many attended the University of Hartford, The Naval War College and Western New England University where he received his MBA. After retiring, he worked in business development before he began his pursuit of becoming a Chick-fil-A owner/operator. LaVoye and his wife Colleen and their two daughters have relocated to Enfield from his wife’s hometown in Arizona.

“Personalized customer service and freshly prepared food have been the hallmarks of Chick-fil-A since the day Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant,” LaVoye said in a statement. “My team members and I are committed to those same ideas as we welcome our guests to our new Enfield restaurant and provide them with a remarkable experience.”

The Enfield restaurant is the only one the chain plans to open this year in Connecticut. It is the fourth to open in the state since the first location opened in Brookfield last October, followed by restaurants in Wallingford and the Danbury Fair Mall.

The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. until 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.