[UPDATE] Chicken Salad Chick Coming to Covington, Company Milestone on the Horizon

Covington will later this year welcome a new Chicken Salad Chick restaurant.  The popular chicken salad eatery has signed on to open at Jackson Market, a new strip center coming to 4115 Highway 278 in Covington in Newton County. 

The new center, being developed by D&G Development, is expected to include new locations of Five Guys, McAlister's Deli, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Touchdown Wings and Caribou Coffee, among others.  Site plans suggest that Caribou Coffee (in a freestanding building), McAlister's Deli and Chicken Salad Chick will all have drive-thru lanes.   

Although not originally a primary feature of the restaurant, Chicken Salad Chick has been prioritizing the drive-thru feature with its real estate strategy.  About 30 percent of the chain's network featured a drive-thru in 2020, but now that split is about 50 percent.  

Chicken Salad Chick, established in Auburn, Alabama but today based in Atlanta, has steadily been expanding its presence in the greater metro Atlanta area, having opened a new location at Liberty Village in Braselton March 4.  In addition to Braselton and Covington, the company also plans to open a new eatery in Jasper where it will join the upcoming Publix-anchored Gateway Crossing - Jasper shopping center.  

ToNeTo Atlanta recently spoke to Chicken Salad Chick Vice President of Marketing Tom Carr who said that the Tucker area remains of interest for the company where readers of this site have been especially vocal over the years in favor of the chain opening.    

Plans call for the new Chicken Salad Chick to debut in September at which point the restaurant is expected to offer its famous "First 100-style" promotion awarding free chicken salad for a year to the first 100 people in line on opening day.   

Newly opened Chicken Salad Chick in Braselton 

Georgia, with 43 Chicken Salad Chick restaurants open, is now, and will remain for the foreseeable future, the company's largest market by store count.  Overall, the chain has 297 locations across twenty-one states.  The company opened their first restaurant in Maryland this past February with plans to open in Kansas, their twenty-second state, later this year.  The chain expects to hit the 300 unit count mark early this spring.  

Are you excited about the planned opening of Chicken Salad Chick in Covington?  What is your favorite Chicken Salad Chick flavor?  Where would you like to see Chicken Salad Chick open next?

Please share your thoughts below.