Ocean City Today
46 BUSINESS
JUNE 1, 2012
Chick-fil-A restaurant to open June 7, in West Ocean City First 100 loyal customers will receive special reward at grand opening event LISA CAPITELLI ■ Assistant Editor (June 1, 2012) For months, people have watched in anticipation as workers constructed a Chick-fil-A building in the Seaside Village Shopping Center, next to Applebee’s in West Ocean City. Finally, the wait is over as the restaurant is scheduled to open on Thursday, June 7 and the first 100 customers will earn a special reward. “People have been waiting a long time for Chick-fil-A to come to Ocean City,” said West Ocean City franchise operator Ron DiFava. “Chick-fil-A is a good fit [for the area] and I’m happy to be here. We’re excited to get started.” The first 100 adults in line by 6 a.m. on Thursday, June 7 will each receive 52 free Chick-fil-A meal certificates for a year, totaling more than $26,000 in free food being given away. Participants, 18 years and older with identification, can line up no earlier than 24 hours prior to the grand opening. If there are more than 100 people by 6 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, all 100 spots will be determined by a raffle. Those 100 will then have to remain onsite for 24 hours, from 6 a.m. Wednesday, June 6 through 6 a.m. Thursday, June 7 to be eligible for the free meals, according the Adam Shanks, grand opening supervisor. During that 24-hour period, the 100 campers will receive breakfast, lunch and dinner from Chick-fil-A. There will also be music, games and a few surprises during the parking lot party, DiFava said. For a complete list of rules, visit, www.chickfil-a.com/Locations/First-100. The restaurant will officially open at 6:30 a.m. on June 7 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. Since the “First 100” promotion began in 2003, Chick-fil-A has given away more than $16 million in free food at nearly 600 grand openings. The company will award nearly $2 million in free food this year. Construction of the nearly 4,500square-foot building began in mid-Feb-
Chick-fil-A in West Ocean City is scheduled to open on Thursday, June 7. (Right) Chick-fil-A grand opening supervisors, Bryant Ford, left, and Adam Shanks, right, assist Ron DiFava, owner/operator of the new West Ocean City restaurant, with employee training and helping to get the location up and running.
ruary. The new West Ocean City Chickfil-A seats approximately 100 people in the dining area with 24 additional outdoor seats. It has a double drive-through and an indoor play area for children. The restaurant also has a unique design, with warm colors, wood accents, fiber cement siding, arbors and new state-of-the-art equipment. Customers can get an up-close look at the behind-the-scenes operations, as “backstage tours” of the kitchen are available. They can see how the food is prepared fresh to order. The West Ocean City restaurant is one of 92 locations the chain plans to open across the country in 2012, creating nearly 7,300 new jobs. The West Ocean City location will employ about 60. DiFava, who moved from Virginia Beach to the Ocean City area, is familiar with the chain restaurant and its famous moth-watering chicken as both his brother-in-law and father-in-law are See EXPECT on Page 47
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OCEAN CITY TODAY/LISA CAPITELLI