New Chick-fil-A Opens April 13, Brings 100 Jobs To Alpharetta

From Chick-fil-A, Inc. Corportate Offices: Local franchise owner John Crays will open metro-Atlanta’s newest Chick-fil-A restaurant on April 13 in Alpharetta, bringing 100 new jobs and the chain’s signature menu of fresh, hand-crafted food and award-winning customer service to Avalon’s mixed-use development.

The new restaurant is located at 2720 Old Milton Parkway and is part of Avalon’s Boulevard East phase opening the same day in north Fulton County. Crays is inviting the local community to join in a grand opening event as unique as the Avalon development on April 12, the day before the restaurant opens. Specific details will be revealed in real time beginning at 9 a.m., Wednesday, April 12, on the restaurant’s Facebook page here. This custom grand opening event replaces the First 100 campout typically associated with a Chick-fil-A grand opening.

Restaurant Details

The new Chick-fil-A restaurant, which will open its doors at 6:30 a.m., April 13, reflects the overall design of the surrounding live-work-play Avalon development. The 5,000-square-foot restaurant features a:

• custom all-brick exterior with large arched windows letting in an abundance of natural light.
• Heritage restaurant design that showcases handmade, authentic materials for a vintage-inspired interior, including a large gathering table made from reclaimed wood, subway tiles, and light fixtures made from recycled Coca-Cola bottles.
• two-story interactive indoor play area for children and free Wi-Fi.
• drive-thru service expanded to offer dual drive-thru ordering lanes and screens to enable customers to move quickly into a single lane for payment and pickup.
• dining room that seats 140 with 20 additional outdoor seats on a patio accented with brick archways.
• full-service menu, including breakfast until 10:30 a.m., and will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Like all Chick-fil-A locations, it will be closed on Sunday to provide a day of rest and time with family and friends for team members.

About Franchise Operator John Crays

Crays, who moved to the Atlanta area as a teen, joined Chick-fil-A as a team member at age 15 and worked there for six years before graduating with a degree in IT. Crays stayed in touch with a friend who was selected as a Chick-fil-A franchise owner after graduation and, over time, he realized the operator opportunity fit his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to mentor young people. Crays was selected to operate the chain’s Memorial Drive location in Stone Mountain before being given the opportunity to open the downtown Decatur restaurant in 2005. Twelve years later, Crays is thrilled to be coming to Alpharetta where he and his wife, Cristina, and two daughters, Hannah and Olivia, have lived since 2005. Cray’s oldest daughter, Hannah, will join her dad and mom in working at the new location, making it a true family endeavor.

“My team members and I can’t wait to join and serve our Alpharetta community and those who pass through this Avalon corridor every day,” said Crays. “Our goal is to provide a remarkable experience for every customer, every time, by serving food our guests can truly feel good about eating, extending sincere hospitality and being a good neighbor.”

Chick-fil-A in Atlanta

The Avalon Chick-fil-A location is first of two new Chick-fil-A restaurants opening in metro-Atlanta in April and up to seven projected through 2017. It will be followed by a restaurant at 3725 Cascade Road SW in Atlanta on April 27. In addition to the new restaurants planned for the metro area, Chick-fil-A is reinvesting in existing locations to increase capacity and upgrade kitchen facilities. The first of these rebuilt restaurants for 2017 will open in May at 2975 Cobb Parkway in Atlanta. Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall was the site of the first-ever Chick-fil-A restaurant opened by founder S. Truett Cathy in 1947. Today, there are 138 locations within 50 miles of the city. The Avalon restaurant is among 102 new Chick-fil-A locations opening this year across the country, creating nearly 9,000 new jobs.

Photos courtesy of Chick-fil-A, Inc. and CP Communications Inc.