The Chick-fil-A restaurant now under construction at University Town Centre, next to Wendy’s, is expected to open in early spring.
When the 5,000-square-foot restaurant opens, it will employ 75 full and part-time workers, said Natalie Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based fast food chain.
It will also be the Morgantown area’s fifth Chick-fil-A restaurant. There are locations on Patteson Drive, in the WVU Mountainlair and the Morgantown Mall and on Medical Center Drive.
To celebrate its first day of business, since 2003 Chick-fil-A has traditionally held a First 100 Campout, an event where the first 100 people through the store’s doors get free Chick-fil-A for one year.
Chick-fil-A also retains ownership of each of its restaurants and handpicks the operator of each location after an extensive vetting process.
In addition, the chain is known for not being open on Sundays to reflect the religious beliefs of its founder, S. Truett Cathy, who started the restaurant business in 1946.
Chick-fil-A itself came into being in 1967 after Cathy found a pressure fryer that could fry a chicken sandwich in the time it took to fry a hamburger, according to company history. There are now more than 2,000 restaurants in the United States and Canada.
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