Years in the making, Chick-fil-A’s Pasadena restaurant throws open the doors Thursday (early! at a rooster-crowing 6 a.m.) and celebrates by offering up free sandwiches for the first 100 customers in line.
Few fast-food restaurants in recent memory have hit so many slow-downs in opening up. City council delays over the years combined with student protests from neighboring Pasadena City College about Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy’s stance on homosexuality have marked the build out.
But now, the Chick has crossed the road and that’s all behind. Now, it’s all about eating chicken (or as the cows in the famous Chik-fil-A logo say on signs: “Chiken”).
Observers expect fil-A fans to camp out starting Wednesday. The first 100 don’t just get one free meal – they’ll get 52 free meals over the restaurant’s first year.
If the whole Chick-fil-A milieu is new and mysterious to you, listen up! There are folks back East who plan vacations around Chick-fil-A locations (“When we got home, we asked the kids what they enjoyed most about our vacation. They all said getting there and back was the MOST fun, because we got to eat at ‘nothin’ but Chick-fil-A’s’” ).
(Yes, this is a true story.)
Or who write love letters to Chick-fil-A: “Together with many other southerners, you have always been a part of my life. You have provided me delicious food, outstanding sweet tea, and a smile until now. I never realized how much I was in love with you until you weren’t in my life anymore and now I think of you often.”
(Yes, that was an actual Chick-fil-A love letter.)
Better check it out!
Chick-fil-A Pasadena is located at 1700 E Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. For more call (626) 793-7636.