Chick-fil-A reopens on ISB in Daytona: What you need to know
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DAYTONA BEACH — With a ceremonial ribbon-cutting amid a crowd of loyal morning breakfast customers, a new Chick-fil-A restaurant officially reopened its doors on Thursday on the corner of International Speedway and Williamson boulevards.
The new 4,960-square-foot eatery is a bigger, more modern replacement for the former Chick-fil-A that anchored that corner since its construction in 1994. The new restaurant is loaded with features that reflect the conveniences and technology craved by 21st century customers.
Although Chick-fil-A has garnered brand loyalists at more than 2,600 restaurants across 47 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Canada and Puerto Rico, the company has a special bond to the Daytona Beach area.
Here’s what you need to know about the new restaurant and Chick-fil-A’s Daytona Beach connections:
New restaurant is state-of-the-art
The newly opened restaurant offers two drive-through lanes and an inside pick-up station for drivers from delivery services such as Door Dash and Uber Eats. It also has a dedicated station to serve customers who order in advance via Chick-fil-A's mobile app and a more spacious indoor dining room.
The new restaurant’s 4,960-square-foot footprint eclipses the 3,295 square feet of space at the old Chick-fil-A on the site, which was torn down in January to build the new restaurant. The old Chick-fil-A had just one drive-through lane.
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The new Chick-fil-A features electronic menu boards, covered outdoor canopies where drive-through customers place and pick-up orders, a new outdoor customer seating area and a more efficient interior floorplan designed to “streamline employees' steps," according to franchisee Chris Kirby.
It also offers parking spaces for 51 cars, nine more than the old restaurant had.
Construction of the new restaurant was projected to cost $3.3 million, but Kirby said the actual cost exceeded that amount.
Chick-fil-A's Daytona Beach connections
At the New Daytona Beach restaurant, the connection to the area starts with Kirby, the franchisee.
He grew up in Ormond Beach, where he started his Chick-fil-A career as a 16-year-old team member at the Chick-fil-A at Williamson and Granada boulevards.
After earning his degree in business management from the University of Central Florida, he went to work for the corporation, managing company-owned Chick-fil-A locations in Illinois, Ohio and Florida before buying a franchise in Southwest Florida in 2011.
He jumped at the chance to return to Daytona when previous franchisee Gary Harris decided to sell his location near Daytona International Speedway.
During his career, Kirby also has met the company’s founder, the late S. Truett Cathy, who also has longtime ties to the Daytona Beach area.
For years, Cathy and his wife, Jeannette, spent their winters in New Smyrna Beach where they owned vacation properties. Cathy died in 2014 at age 93. His wife died the next year at age 92.
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His family still owns vacation homes here and their company owns the Chick-fil-A Lodge at the Sugar Mill Golf & Country Club in New Smyrna Beach. Members of the Cathy family still sometimes visit the Chick-fil-A on ISB, Kirby said.
If you go
The Chick-fil-A at Williamson and ISB is open 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. The address is 100 N. Williamson Blvd., Daytona Beach. Phone: 386-252-8232. Online: chick-fil-a.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New Chick-fil-A marks grand opening in Daytona Beach: What's it like?
