Countdown to Hollywood's New Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A opens its long-awaited Hollywood location tomorrow, but fans of the Southern fried chicken chain (but hopefully not its stance against gay marriage) are already lined up for a shot at a year's worth of free sandwiches.

From Chick-fil-A PR:

Dozens of people are converging on the new Hollywood Chick-fil-A hoping to win free Chick-fil-A for a year when the restaurant at Sunset and Highland opens Thursday around 6 a.m. Registration for the promotion will open at 6 a.m. today. If there are more than 100 in line when registration opens, the 100 spots will be awarded by raffle. People have come from throughout the area and region as well from Florida to be part of this long-anticipated opening.

LA Weekly has more details:

This afternoon's line-waiters took part in a raffle, in which 100 people as well as 10 alternates were selected to wait out the night for the highly coveted "First 100" prize. Winners receive one chicken sandwich, one order of waffle fries and one drink (equating to 52 meals) every week for a year.

Equipped with mattresses, tents, chairs, tables, umbrellas and computers, the Chick-fil-A faithful have settled in for a long night. The restaurant is providing security, restrooms, a DJ, ice cream sundaes and free chicken sandwiches to help while away the hours.

For those who don't want to wait on the Hollywood pavement for a chicken sandwich, the restaurant opens tomorrow at 6 a.m. -- with protests by gay activists expected.

Chick-fil-A brought sandwiches by our offices the other day, and they are indeed delicious. (You may recall they also fed us at my previous job back in December.)

Read my past posts about Chick-fil-A here.

Variety Gets a First Bite of Chick-Fil-A

It's still six or so months before Chick-Fil-A opens its much-buzzed Hollywood location, but the fast food chain is already making the media rounds.

Today, it was Variety's turn. The chicken eatery sent Variety a slew of chicken sandwiches and wraps to feed the staff. The spicy chicken? Spicy. I like. (A bit too salty, however. I'm avoiding the nutrition facts. Don't tell me.)

Some pics from the Chick-Fil-A visit:

More Details on Chick-Fil-A's Move Into Hollywood

Just in via LA Weekly's Squid Ink blog: Hollywood's new Chick-Fil-A will open at the corner of Sunset and Highland next year.

Groundbreaking for the new location will take place next Thursday, Dec. 16, featuring a visit by the "Chick-Fil-A cows."

Chick-fil-a, of course, has been in the region for a while -- there's been one in Long Beach for several years. But until the fast food joint opened a location near USC earlier this year, it hadn't ventured inside L.A. city limits.

The Hollywood location, set to open in summer 2011, will represent the second in the city. It replaces a mini Carls Jr. (dubbed "Carls Jr. Jr.") and I believe, before that, it was a Rally's.

Chick-Fil-A's March into Los Angeles Begins

Popular fast food chicken chain Chick-Fil-A is finally making it to Los Angeles city limits, as its first store opens here next Friday.

As is custom with Chick-Fil-A openings -- "This American Life" chronicled it a few years ago -- the first 100 people in line will receive vouchers for a full year of free Chick-Fil-A food.

L.A. Weekly has the details:

The "First 100" promotion is not unique to this location, and has been implemented chain-wide for the past seven years. However, due to the limited amount of available space, and the popularity for these promotions, no one will be allowed to line up until 6 p.m. on Wednesday, August 11th. This will be the company's 1,500th location.

L.A.'s first Chick-fil-A opens Thursday, Aug. 12 at 3758 S. Figueroa St., near USC.

This is kind of reminiscent of the late 1990s arrival of another Southern chain, Krispy Kreme. Just like Krispy Kreme, Chick-Fil-A has massive expansion plans in Southern California. (It's already been found in Long Beach and Orange County.) Krispy Kreme ultimately expanded too much, and has closed many of those locations in subsequent years. We'll see how Chick-Fil-A does in a tough marketplace that already recently saw the massive downsize of another chicken chain, Koo Koo Roo.

A reminder: Don't try to hit the Chick-Fil-A on a Sunday; per the chain's long-standing tradition, it's not open that day.