The wait for Chick-fil-A’s signature chicken sandwich in Arnold is over.
The restaurant at 1 Arnold Mall, near the intersection of Jeffco Boulevard and Hwy. 141, reopened today, Dec. 20. The location had been closed since July 20 for extensive remodeling.
“We had a lot of unforeseen challenges trying to get open,” said Shane Neel, the restaurant’s owner and operator. “It initially was a 12-to-14-week remodel, and it ended up taking 23 weeks.
“It has been a long time coming. The team is excited, and I know the community is excited that we are open.”
At about 4 p.m. today, Neel said the restaurant already had about 2,000 transactions, and he expected that number to reach about 3,000 by the end of the day.
“Today has been great,” he said. “We have been super busy. We jumped right back into it like nothing ever happened. We are really grateful everyone has supported us the way they have.”
Neel said there were numerous unforeseen challenges to reopen the restaurant, including a theft of copper wires that prevented the reopening from happening last week.
“About a week and a half ago, we came in and there was no power,” he said. “Someone had cut through the copper main power lines from the restaurant to the power pole. They were able to pull some of it out from underground.
“That set us back from being able to open last week.”
The building expanded by 500 square feet, increasing the kitchen space and providing more room for drive-thru service.
A permanent, two-lane drive-thru also has been installed at the Chick-fil-A, providing two drive-thru speaker boxes for customers to order from.
Vehicles still line up in lanes that wrap around the building and food will be picked up at a single window. However, Neel said a parallel cockpit was installed as both a pickup window and a door for employees to enter and exit the restaurant.
Neel said the new drive-thru system worked well when the restaurant reopened.
“At any given hour, we are doing 175 cars through the drive thru,” he said. “We are hoping this new model and design can get us over 200 cars per hour. Being more efficient was the whole purpose of the remodel to provide better customer service.”
The dining area has new furniture and paint, but Neel said the restaurant’s seating capacity is still about 100 customers. However, he said the layout is improved.
Chick-fil-A is open from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
