Chick-fil-A forges ahead with N.E. expansion plans.
Courtesy photo
It was persona non grata when it floated plans to open in Boston in 2012, but Chik-fil-A has had little trouble growing its New England footprint with new locations in MetroWest.
The Framingham Planning Board approved plans last week for the privately-held fast food franchise, to build a restaurant between routes 9 and 30, adjacent to Kohl’s. Sandwiched between the two roads in the Shoppers’ World plaza, construction is expected to begin this summer with an opening planned for early 2016, according to company spokeswoman Brenda Morrow.
Up to 10 new locations planned
But the College Park, Ga.-based company isn’t stopping at Framingham; Morrow said Chick-fil-A wants to open between six and 10 more New England locations in 2016. Other Massachusetts locations include Hyannis and Seekonk, Morrow said.
But for now, the company is not considering a Boston site. The late Mayor Thomas Menino famously informed company President Dan Cathy that Chick-fil-A was not welcome in the city when the company announced it was considering opening across the street from City Hall and Faneuil Hall, because of Cathy’s admission that he provided financial support to organizations that campaigned against same-sex marriage out of his religious convictions.
Menino admitted that he couldn’t actually stop the company from seeking permits for the project, but that he was instead using the bully pulpit to keep it out. But town officials west of Boston haven’t followed suit. Rather, they’ve deferred to local zoning laws governing development and stayed out of the politics.
Ethics not problematic for MetroWest-area projects
Amanda Loomis, administrator for the Framingham Planning Board, explained that town officials can only review projects through the lens of the local zoning bylaw.
“So the ethics can’t come into decision making,” Loomis said.
The board held a public comment period, as usual, during last week’s meeting before members unanimously approved Chick-fil-A’s plans. Loomis said no members of the public voiced opposition to the chain’s looming arrival in Framingham based on Cathy’s political views.
“No one made any comments regarding the ethics of Chick-fil-A,” Loomis said.
Westborough experienced the same lack of public opposition before Chick-fil-A opened there last year, officials said. Owned by franchised restaurant operator Mike Lawson, the restaurant has been “well received in the community,” according to Morrow, who said in an e-mail that MetroWest provides a “tremendous growth opportunity” for the company.
Morrow said most restaurant operators own just one location, which is different from many other franchise businesses that license geographic regions, which often include multiple locations, to franchisees. Another difference is that the fast-food chain doesn’t do business on Sundays, also a reflection of Cathy’s religious beliefs.
A fast-food force
Whatever Cathy’s ideology, it appears his company, a longtime fast-food force in the South, now sees vast opportunity in the North. Mark Kalinowski, an analyst with Janney Capital Markets, said in a 2014 research note that Chick-fil-A is a “serious and growing competitive threat,” to fast food’s biggest fish, McDonald’s.
A Chicago Tribune article in July referenced Kalinowski’s note, in which he predicted that Chick-fil-A’s sales growth could exceed that of McDonald’s over the next decade. One reason is that the chain has more room to grow in northern states, where it has relatively few locations, according to Kalinowski.
This would follow a decade of already strong growth; according to Kalinowski, Chick-fil-A expanded its domestic sales from $1.5 billion to $5 billion between 2003 and 2013 in part by building new stores.
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