The most important point in the plan is that all customers, dine-in, and drive-thru, are going to enter King and 26th, even though the restaurant entrance is much closer to the 24th.
The wait is over! Billings' first Chick-fil-A location is opening its doors to the public at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, January 19. The restaurant held a ribbon cutting and small test run for a select group of community members Wednesday.
Right from when the officials confirmed that the popular fast food chain restaurant is on track to open in early 2023, Billings city engineers began to prepare for the surge of traffic that will come with it.
Pay attention if you’re going to visit the location in the first two weeks. There’s a very specific plan to follow that's been months in the making.
"Our request for the public: Be patient," said Billings city engineer Mac Fogelsong. "Try to operate under the plan."
Fogelsong is certain that Thursday is going to be a busy one near 24th Street West and King Avenue. "I think it's going to be challenging, but some things in life you just have to attack as they come," Fogelsong said.
Fogelsong and Chick-fil-A’s team of engineers have developed a traffic plan, likely for the first several weeks of the new location's opening.
The most important point in the plan is that all customers, dine-in, and drive-thru, are going to enter King and 26th, even though the restaurant entrance is much closer to the 24th. But anyone expecting to enter that way will have plenty of reminders not to.
"There are going to be advanced message boards in both directions on 24th that say, ‘Use King Ave.,’" Fogelsong said. "That will allow traffic to stack on site in the marketplace, and not on the streets."
Once customers get into the shopping center, they are to make their first right just past Rocky Mountain Bank. They'll reach one of two Billings police officers on site to help manage things. These are current officers being paid by Chick-Fil-A to work extra duty at a rate the department says is almost always higher than what they normally make on shift.
That officer will ask whether drive-thru or dine in. If it's dine-in, the customer will head to the stop sign, turn left toward the restaurant and try to find a parking spot. If it’s a drive-thru, they will turn left immediately down an aisle of the Walmart parking lot. Chick-fil-A knowing what an Opening can look like worked it out with Walmart to use the two easternmost aisles as a queue.
Chick-Fil-A reigns supreme in the fast food Industry. This is evident in its more than 2900 locations in the U.S. and in being voted as the American favorite restaurant for eight years in a row. From food quality, speed of service, and mobile app reliability, the chain continues to dominate in the industry offering quality food and superior services that leaves customers coming back for more day after day.
Author’s Note: This article is solely for information purposes. The embedded links and information shared in the article are attributed to chick-fil-a.com and ktvq.com.
Comments / 1