Popular Chicken Chain Opens Location In Howard County

COLUMBIA, MD — Anyone dressed in cow spots or wearing cow-spotted accessories Thursday for the grand opening of the newest Chick-fil-A in Howard County will receive a free entrée or kid’s meal inside the restaurant or in the drive-thru.

The new Chick-fil-A will open at 6:30 a.m. at 9081 Snowden River Pkwy. in Columbia. Owner-operator Joe Dinoto, Sr., an Army veteran, also owns the Chick-fil-A at Dobbin Center and previously operated the Columbia Mall and Executive Park Drive locations. He's partnered with Chick-fil-A for the past 35 years.

“More than 20 years ago, I expressed interest in opening a Chick-fil-A in this exact location,” Dinoto said. “Seeing Chick-fil-A Snowden River Parkway open is a dream come true. This community has always meant so much to me, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to continue serving and building relationships with the guests who make Columbia so special.”

The new Chick-fil-A Snowden River Parkway location also will feature a playground for pint-sized patrons.

After retiring from the Army, Dinoto was invited to visit the Chick-fil-A Support Center in Atlanta, an experience that inspired him to pursue becoming a Chick-fil-A local owner-operator.

In 1990, he was selected as a local owner-operator and helped operate some of the first freestanding Chick-fil-A restaurants in Maryland. Dinoto's two sons also are multi-unit local owner-operators in Anne Arundel, Howard and Prince George's counties. Dinoto will continue to own and operate Chick-fil-A Dobbin Center in addition to the new location.

To celebrate the grand opening of the newest Howard County Chick-fil-A location, Dobbin will be presenting a $25,000 donation from Chick-fil-A, Inc. to Feeding America, which will be distributed to partners in the greater Baltimore area to help in their fight against hunger.

Dobbin also participates in the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program, which redirects surplus food to local nonprofits, helping to create more than 42 million meals nationwide to date.

The new Chick-fil-A eatery will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with dine-in, drive-thru, carry-out, third-party delivery, curbside pick-up, mobile pick-up and Mobile Thru.