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It seemed like the entire county got up early for the opening of Chick-fil-A in Valley. Cars spilled out into the street and residents started lining up before the 6:30 a.m. opening time to get into the beloved chicken restaurant, the first of its kind in Chambers County. 

The first 100 diners got special mugs in celebration, handed out by the owners of the Valley franchise, Cole and Alecia  Flanders. 

A group of students from Smith Station High School were there for breakfast before heading to school. 

“I am just excited to have one this close,” said Lola Lashley, the sole Valley resident of the group. She added that before the opening the group would drive to Phenix City for Chick-fil-A. 

Margarette Cook was joined by her grandson and according to her, the first Springwood student in line, Adam Baltes. The pair was also one of the first in line when Jack’s opened in Valley. 

“We love Chick-fil-A, and it’s really good to see one in our community now,” Baltes said. 

The 6:30 a.m. opening meant folks had to get up early for breakfast. 

“I got him up,” joked Cook.

Baltes replied with a smile, “She was like, ‘Don’t expect me to share anything’.”

Point University students commandeered a table. 

“I give tours for Point and all of last year I was like, ‘We have every fast food restaurant except Chick-fil-A’,” said Skyhawk Michael Underwood. Now, he can add that to his tour.

Classmate Natalie Lovelace said the group got up at 3:00 a.m. and arrived at the restaurant at 4:00 a.m., a whole two and a half hours before it opened. 

“We’ve been talking about this since it was announced,” said Gavin Sain from the other end of the table.  

It was announced in May that a new location would be coming to Valley. The process to get the chain to choose Valley as a destination was a multi-year effort by the Chambers County Development Authority. 

“This is a retail entity that we’ve targeted for a long time,” said Chris Busby, CCDA Director. “So it’s a great win to have them here. They are the most popular restaurant in the country, one of the fastest-growing in the country. So with that, obviously, it generates a lot of revenue…[It] is just a big boon and allows us to reinvest in our communities.”

The company has had an approximate $5 million capital investment in the area and 115 jobs. 

“As far as economic impact, other retailers want to be around Chick-fil-A because they know the traffic they draw. So we feel like this is going to be something that will allow us to grow retail-wise, and bring in new companies that maybe had not considered looking at our area before,” Busby added. “We’ve already seen a lot of new activity.”

The CCDA director highlighted the importance of a company that engages with the community. 

“The culture at Chick-fil-A is one that gives back to the community.”

In a press release from the chain, it was announced that the Valley Chick-fil-A would give 100 “local heroes” one free entree a day for an entire year. The location will also participate in the company’s Shared Table program which donates surplus food to local organizations, as well as donate $25,000 to Feeding America.