Framingham Planning Board Approves Chick-fil-A Drive-Thru

Georgia-based Chick-fil-A was approved by the Framingham Planning Board to construct a drive-thru location in the Shoppers World complex in Framingham.

The Framingham Planning Board voted 4-0 last Thursday, to approve an application for a 4,779 square foot location next to Kohl’s department store.

Construction on the fast-food chicken restaurant is expected to take place this year (2015).

The restaurant, known for its chicken sandwiches and waffle fries, would be located in the northeast corner of the Kohl’s shopping area. Access to the new restaurant would be through the Kohl’s parking lot, although the restaurant would be visible from Route 30.

The restaurant’s application also requesting a special permit for a drive-thru plus a special permit to reduce the number of required parking spaces.

The restaurant would be able to seat 128 patrons, plus an additional dozen patrons in a patio area.

Twenty-five parking space would be lost in the Kohl’s lot with the proposed construction of the restaurant.

The fast-food chicken restaurant chain is considered controversial, as it does not open any of 1,850 locations in 41 states on Sunday, due to religious reasons. The chain had annual sales of more than $5 billion in 2013.

Chick-fil-A, in its application, said the new location would bring 12 permanent jobs and 10 part-time jobs.

Near Framingham, there are Chick-fil-A locations in Westborough and in the Burlington Mall.

Chick-fil-A started in 1946, when Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, Dwarf Grill, in Hapeville, Georgia.Credited with inventing Chick-fil-A’s boneless breast of chicken sandwich, Mr. Cathy founded Chick-fil-A, Inc. in the early 1960s and pioneered the establishment of restaurants in shopping malls with the opening of the first Chick-fil-A Restaurant at a mall in suburban Atlanta in 1967, according to the Chick-fil-A website.

Framingham Patch was the first media outlet to announce that the chain wanted to open in Framingham, back in December 2014.

A public hearing was held in January by the Framingham Planning Board.

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Photo courtesy of Chick-fil-A website