‘Exceptionally smooth’ opening for the new Woodburn Chick-fil-A

Published 4:50 pm Friday, December 6, 2024

The wait is over — the highly anticipated Woodburn Chick-fil-A is now open.

The Chick-fil-A is a drive-thru-only restaurant open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and located at 300 S. Woodland Ave. at the southeast corner of Oregon Highway 219.

The restaurant serves breakfast in the morning, and its usual all-day menu includes fried chicken sandwiches, nuggets, fries, shakes, salads and sides.

The new Chick-fil-A opened at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 5. However, according to the location’s owner and operator, Kasi Corbett, some people arrived as early as 5 a.m. to wait for their chicken.

“It’s been going really well and the community has been so supportive,” Corbett said. “The traffic was pretty steady yesterday, but the drive-thru has been working amazing, and the driveway is super long and well designed, so it has been able to support what we need without backing into the street.”

While some Woodburn locals are rejoicing over the new Chick-fil-A, many have expressed concern over the possible traffic the restaurant will bring as it shares an exit off Interstate 5 with the Woodburn Outlets. The fried chicken fast food chain is known for being immensely popular, so the city of Woodburn planning officials have been focused on how the business intends to manage traffic.

Since opening, there have been a few police officers stationed at the restaurant to help monitor and control traffic. As of Friday, Dec. 6, the traffic from the restaurant’s lunch crowd remained under control. Cars did not spill out of the driveway, and the wait time at the drive-thru was approximately 5 minutes. However, Corbett does anticipate more customers over the weekend.

In addition to the drive-thru, there is limited outdoor seating and an outdoor counter to order food at, but no indoor seating or ordering area. The wait at the outdoor counter was also short, with food coming out in under 5 minutes.

The closest Chick-fil-A to Woodburn before the opening was the Keizer-Salem location, which is approximately 15 miles away. A local teenager, Manuel Garcia, said he and his friends would typically drive down to Salem if they wanted Chick-fil-A, so they are excited about the new location.

“I was hungry, so we decided to come today,” said Garcia. “I like that it’s closer, so we can save some gas now.”

According to the Woodburn Chick-fil-A managers, the spicy chicken sandwich was the most popular order on opening day. However, some customers also like to frequent the restaurant for its healthier selections.

“We really like their market salad, and Chick-fil-A is a healthier option than other fast food restaurants. They also have the best Arnold Palmers,” Matt Andujo said, who was driving through the area and happened to stop at the new location.

Corbett said that opening day went “exceptionally smooth” and credited the team of restaurant staff for helping traffic move as efficiently as possible.

“The new employees are doing incredible,” said Corbett, restaurant operator. “Yesterday there were a couple of employees who said, ‘We are having so much fun, can we stay?’”

According to Chick-fil-A Inc., the Woodburn location has created approximately 100 full and part-time jobs in the community.