Chick-fil-A has announced the opening date of its first restaurant in Northern Ireland. The US fast-food giant is opening the doors to its first restaurant outside of North America on Thursday, January 30, when it arrives at Applegreen's Lisburn South motorway service area on the M1.
The chain has entered into a new licensing partnership with Applegreen Northern Ireland, with a second location due to open at Applegreen Templepatrick on the M2 in March. The new restaurants will create 70 new jobs, bringing Applegreen’s overall employment numbers in Northern Ireland to 351.
Applegreen already has a very successful partnership with Chick-fil-A in the United States, as it operates 14 of its restaurants at its US-based motorway service areas.
Read more: First NI Chick-fil-A store set to open later this month
Read more: Chick-fil-A to open first branch in Northern Ireland
Chick-fil-A, known for its Original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich and "signature hospitality", is the third largest quick service restaurant company by sales volume in the United States, and operates more than 3,000 restaurants across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
"We are excited to bring Chick-fil-A to Belfast with the opening of our Applegreen licensed location, marking a key milestone in our expansion into the UK," said Joanna Symonds, Head of UK Operations for Chick-fil-A, Inc. "From day one, we’ve strived to positively impact each and every community in which we operate, and we look forward to continuing that tradition."
The brand plans to open five restaurants, both licensed and locally owned and operated models, across the UK in the first two years. Other locations will include London, Leeds and Liverpool.
The opening of the new restaurants follows significant upgrades to the Applegreen service areas at Lisburn South and Templepatrick in recent months, which also saw the addition of new M&S Food stores at both locations.
Applegreen operates five locations in Northern Ireland. The two largest sites are just outside Lisburn, on the northern and southern sides of the M1 motorway, and it also has sites in Templepatrick, Ballymena, and Hillsborough.
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