Atlanta native goes west to lead new restaurant
ATLANTA (March 17, 2016) – Chick-fil-A, Inc. announced today the grand opening date of its second freestanding restaurant in the Portland area. The restaurant, located at 12520 SE 93rd Avenue in Clackamas, Ore. is set to open Thursday, April 21. Formally named Chick-fil-A at Clackamas Promenade, the restaurant will be independently owned and operated by local resident Brian Davis.
Locally Owned and Operated
Davis, an Atlanta native who previously owned a Chick-fil-A franchise 16 miles from the company’s first-ever restaurant in College Park, Ga., recently relocated to the Portland area with his wife, Bethany, and two daughters to open the franchise. He is a long-time Chick-fil-A team member, beginning his career hand-breading chicken in the Chick-fil-A kitchen after graduating from Shorter College. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a restaurant manager before entering Chick-fil-A’s Interim Manager program. In the program, he managed restaurants in Utah, Alabama and North Carolina over the course of 11 months. He was selected to be a Chick-fil-A franchise owner in July 2012 and operated a restaurant in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood for three years before moving to Oregon.
Davis is known throughout the company for his commitment to developing young people, having started a leadership development program for select team members known as The Jumpstart Experience. The two-year program gives young employees hands-on experiential learning in the restaurant setting and teaches leadership development outside of the restaurant. Several of his leaders from the program are relocating with him from Atlanta to open the Clackamas restaurant.
“Clackamas has welcomed us with open arms, and we couldn’t be happier to be living and opening a business in such a great community,” Davis says. “When guests step through my door, I want them to know that Chick-fil-A is a place of community and a place where we truly value all guests. We look forward to meeting and building relationships with our future customers and becoming involved in Clackamas. We invite everyone to join us for great food and service when we open in April.”
“When guests step through my door, I want them to know that Chick-fil-A is a place of community and a place where we truly value all guests.”–Brian Davis
Fresh, Regionally Sourced Food
Chick-fil-A is known for its menu of fresh, hand-crafted food and offers a variety of options for guests. Signature items include a hand-breaded, boneless chicken breast sandwich, Waffle Potato Fries and hand-spun milkshakes. The Clackamas restaurant will use only premium ingredients and make many of its menu items from scratch in the restaurant each day, including hand-chopped salads and fresh-squeezed lemonade.
Chick-fil-A at Clackamas Promenade will partner with regional farmers and suppliers to source as many locally- and regionally-grown ingredients as possible. In fact, the restaurant will source all of its bread from Portland-based Franz Bakery, which also supplies bread to Chick-fil-A restaurants in Washington. Chick-fil-A sources all potatoes used to make hash browns and Waffle Potato Fries from the Columbia River Basin – buying more than 438 million pounds of potatoes last year alone. Additionally, all of the apples used to supply Chick-fil-A's West Region restaurants are grown in the Pacific Northwest, sourcing more than 2.25 million pounds of apples from the region each year. Chick-fil-A is also collaborating with national and regional poultry suppliers to ensure it serves chicken raised without antibiotics in all its restaurants nationwide by 2019.
Sustainable Design
Chick-fil-A’s sustainability efforts focus on serving better food in greener restaurants with reduced waste. Chick-fil-A at Clackamas will be built to LEED® specifications with water and energy efficiency features, air quality control and waste diversion efforts, among other initiatives. The restaurant will also recycle all cardboard and plastic used in back-of-house operations, and provide napkins, tray liners and Kid’s Meal bags made from 100 percent recycled materials. All beverages will be served in paper cups made from recycled materials.
Community Citizen
Chick-fil-A at Clackamas Promenade will create approximately 80 new full-and part-time jobs, with team member hiring taking place now. Chick-fil-A is known for developing and retaining young talent, offering a supportive workplace with opportunities for leadership development, promotions that lead to management roles, the opportunity to earn college scholarships, respect for work-life balance (with Sundays off) and competitive wages. Over the years, the restaurant company, which employs more than 80,000 individuals through both corporate positions and franchised locations, has provided more than $30 million to help its team members pay for college. Interested candidates can apply at jobs.portlandcfa.com.
Among other locally-based giving initiatives, Davis will partner with a local food bank to donate surplus food to those in need multiple times a week.
Commitment to Customer Service
With a longstanding tradition in the restaurant industry for setting the highest standards in customer service, Chick-fil-A recently ranked first for customer satisfaction in the Limited Service Restaurants Industry by the American Customer Satisfaction Index for 2015. The company has also earned recognition as one of America’s “Most Inspiring Companies” by Forbes Magazine, one of America’s “Top 20 Most Admired Brands” by The Harris Poll and “Top Fast Food Chicken Chain” by Consumer Reports, among other honors.
Chick-fil-A launched a new website, PortlandCFA.com, to serve as a hub for information about the Portland-area Chick-fil-A restaurants, as well stories about team members, the community and more. Guests are encouraged to visit PortlandCFA.com or the restaurant’s Facebook page – facebook.com/cfaclackamas– for the latest information leading up to grand opening. The restaurant is scheduled to be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday beginning Thursday, April 21
About Chick-fil-A, Inc.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, Inc. is a family owned and privately held restaurant company founded in 1946 by S. Truett Cathy. Devoted to serving the local communities in which its franchised restaurants operate, and known for its original chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A serves freshly prepared food in more than 2,000 restaurants in 42 states and Washington, D.C.
Chick-fil-A system sales exceeded $6 billion in 2015, which marks 48 consecutive years of sales growth. Chick-fil-A ranked first for customer satisfaction in the Limited Service Restaurants industry according to the 2015 American Customer Satisfaction Index and received the highest ACSI score ever in the industry. The company was also recognized in 2015 as America’s “Top Chicken Restaurant Brand” by The Harris Poll and the only restaurant brand named to the Top 10 “Best Companies to Work For” by 24/7 Wall Street. More information on Chick-fil-A is available on the chain’s website located at www.chick-fil-a.com.
Corporate Media Hotline: (800) 404-7196 Email: cfapressroom@chick-fil-a.com Twitter: @ChickfilANews
