LYNNWOOD — Chick-fil-A fans, circle May 7 on your calendars.
That’s the tentative opening date for the Lynnwood franchise being built at 3026 196th St. SW next to Lowe’s. It will seat 124 with another 16 seats outdoors.
It’s one of three Chick-fil-A franchises planned in the Puget Sound region. The Bellevue franchise is set to open April 9. The Tacoma one will open April 16.
The three franchises are expected to add 240 full- and part-time jobs in the area.
Each franchise will be independently owned by someone locally who will control the day-to-day operations of the restaurant.
The Lynnwood owner is Paul Rosser, who worked for the chain in Tennessee before recently relocating to Lynnwood.
The Atlanta, Georgia-based company is planning to open more than 100 new restaurants across the country this year, saying it has seen 47 straight years of growth and had more than $5 billion in sales last year.
Chick-fil-A seems to generate a visceral reaction.
The Lynnwood franchise alone has nearly 5,000 fans on Facebook with people quizzing the company in recent days in posts about when it’s opening.
Others take a dimmer view of the company whose founder, S. Truett Cathy, was called a champion of conservative causes by The Wall Street Journal.
Three years ago, CEO Dan Cathy, S. Truett’s son, said on a radio show that “we’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,” according to the Washington Post.
The family are Southern Baptists and the restaurants are closed on Sundays.
But it’s a popular restaurant. And it attracts a lot of hungry customers. And that helps generate jobs not only at the restaurants, but around the region.
Chick-fil-A has reached deals with several vendors and farmers to provide Washington-grown food at the Puget Sound area restaurants.
Last year, the company purchased more than 438 million pounds of potatoes from farmers along the Columbia River Basin for all of its franchises. More restaurants will mean more potatoes are being bought.
“It is a great opportunity to have Chick-fil-A using so many Washington state potatoes in their restaurants,” said Matt Harris, director of government affairs and assistant executive director for the Washington State Potato Commission, in a statement from the company.
Chick-fil-A also purchased 2.25 million pounds of Washington apples, which were served in fruit cups and salads in its restaurants in the West and Southwest.
The company has also reached a deal with Franz Bakery in Seattle to bake and deliver more than 500,000 buns annually to each Chick-fil-A restaurant in Lynnwood, Bellevue and Tacoma.
The three Puget Sound area restaurants are being built to LEED specifications with water and energy efficiency features, air quality control and waste diversion efforts.
The restaurants will also pilot a first-of-its-kind recycling program for foam cups, which can be upcycled into nametags, pens and picture frames.
All napkins, tray liners and kid’s meal bags are made from 100 percent recycled content.
The Lynnwood location’s Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/cfalynnwood.
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