US fast food giant opens its first UK restaurant
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Chick-fil-A
A US fast food giant has opened its first restaurant in the UK, bringing its signature fried chicken to Brits.
Chick-fil-A announced the plans to open up shop in the UK back in August, saying that the first shop would be launching in the autumn.
Now the doors have finally swung open on Commercial Street in Leeds, with the chain saying it has plans to expand elsewhere in coming months.
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Andrew T Cathy, chief executive officer of Chick-fil-A, Inc, said: “Expanding in both Europe and Asia is a meaningful milestone for Chick-fil-A. The investments we’re making in the UK and Singapore not only present opportunities for our business, but are also a chance for us to bring what makes Chick-fil-A special to new places – great food and remarkable hospitality, our unique franchise model and the positive impact we have in communities.”
A press release from the company said the new restaurant would be open 10am to 9pm Monday to Saturday, but be closed on Sundays.
The statement explained: "Closing on Sunday is a tradition that dates back to Chick-fil-A’s founder Truett Cathy, who wanted to give his Team Members a day to rest, spend time with family or worship if they chose to - and we continue to honour that sentiment today."
It isn't the first time that the chain has tried to break ground in the UK, previously opening up a restaurant in Reading in 2019.
This opening sparked backlash over donations to anti-LGBT groups, as well as wider controversy around the owners' supposed stance on LGBTQ+ rights.
The restaurant closed after six months, with Chick-fil-A saying that the store had always been intended to be a temporary pop-up as a way for the company to test out the UK market.
At the time, Chick-fil-A said in a statement: "Our giving has always focused on youth and education. We have never donated with the purpose of supporting a social or political agenda.
"There are 145,000 people - black, white; gay, straight; Christian, non-Christian - who represent Chick-fil-A."
Originally founded in Atlanta 1967 by S. Truett Cathy the company has since gone on to become the third largest fast food retailer in the US and has 3,000 restaurants across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
However, the UK is not the only place where the chain has faced pushback for its owners' views.
In 2012, Cathy's son, Dan - the chairman and president of the chain - told the Baptist Press that Chick-fil-A was 'guilty as charged' on supporting 'the biblical definition of a family'.
Gay rights groups in the US responded with calls for boycotts as well as staging kiss in at Chick-fil-A restaurants, where same sex couples go to a location and kiss publicly.
Not only that, but politicians in Chicago and Boston told the chain that it would not be welcome there, and the Jim Henson Company responded by pulling Muppet toys from children's meals.