UPDATED: Salem Chick-fil-A opens Thursday, campout is Wednesday night
Employees at the new Chick-fil-A in Salem. Photo by So Salem's Miranda Beck
Update: I’ve been tied up this morning helping some journalism students, but I had an email from a Chick-fil-A spokeswoman who said there were more than 200 people lined up outside the Salem Chick-fil-A this morning. Because there are more than 100 people, those in line will be entered in a raffle for the gift certificates.
End update
The opening of the much-anticipated Salem Chick-fil-A is Thursday, but before then dozens of fans are expected to camp out for a chance to win gift certificates to eat at the fast-food restaurant once a week for a year.
The first 100 adults in line at the West Main Street restaurant will each be awarded 52 gift certificates.
Fans are asked not to line up more than 24 hours before the 6:30 a.m. opening. Official rules for the giveaway can be found here.
Chick-fil-A’s President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy will join those camping out and has promised to play his bugle Thursday morning.
So Salem’s Miranda Beck reports that the franchisee, Shaine Miles, is a 1992 graduate of Salem High School. For the last five years, he and his wife were franchise owner and community director of the Riverhill Chik-fil-A in Ashland, Ky. They are moving to Salem with their son.
Construction on the restaurant started in December.
June 5, 2012 - 6:00 PM
They had 100 plus at 6am this morning and choose the 100 by lottery. They still have to stay until opening tomorrow.
Camping out for fast food? Good grief.
Camping out for one free meal a week for a year? Whatever floats their boat.
JESUS CHICKEN!!! APPROVED BY BIGOTS AND ANTI-HUMANISTS EVERYWHERE!!
For Heaven’s sake, it’s greasy, overpriced chicken nuggets. Rejoice Salemites, you never have to come to Roanoke again!
Maybe good food as far as fast food goes. But….
Not worth me missing work and sitting out in the rain all day and night.
Guess these are the same people that camp in front of Best Buy to get the latest game system.
Those waiting in line, unless they are teens already out of school for the summer, are really incredible. Camping out, for Chic-fil-A? If these folks have jobs, well done…you have really stiffed your workmates. If they do not have jobs, magnificent…what a way to spend time in a productive manner, certainly at tax-payer expense. Unbelievable.
Occupy Chick-fil-A, NICE! Taking a break from demonstrating against Wall Street and corporate america to get some free chicken maybe?
Some people are very quick to judge huh? I know people that are there that have jobs and work a schedule that allow them be there. So what? Yes, its fast food. So what? Its a fun experience.
I am a proud Salem-ite, and am very happy to have a Chick Fil A near by.
What I find funny is all of the above comments, especially “what a way to spend time in a productive manner”. Getting riled up on a blog regarding people having a little bit of fun is spending your time in a productive manner?? HAHA
Why does everyone have to be so negative? Also,why do you assume these people are skipping work or unemployed? Not everyone works Monday through Friday. These events are just a bunch of people getting together and having fun, the meals are a bonus. Maybe all of these people making such hateful comments should try having some fun once in a while and they wouldn’t be so crabby.
There was a TV program on Chick-fil-A’s openings recently, and the festivities that they showed looked fun. They had dancing, contests, sports, and food the day and night before opening for those waiting. Good for Chick-fil-A for starting something that is fun for their fans, plus the reward of free chicken for those selected. And, of course, I knew that when reading this entry, there would be several negative comments, mainly because people can find something to complain about on every topic posted here. Anyways, have fun to those waiting and enjoying the festivities. And for those complaining, you may think that I am kidding, but I bet a lot of these people that are there now are really enjoying the experience. And I agree, maybe you should try and have fun once in a while, because you must be unhappy if you have to complain about something you obviously are not participating in, and telling others that their choice in doing this is unbelievable.
Not buying the hurt feelings from many of the posts after mine above…I have fun all of the time. If this is truly a carnival experience, I can respect that. However, the initial story came off to me as a bunch of folks camping out to win a year’s worth of Chic-fil-A. I too hail from Salem and I am surprised at all of the hoopla that a Chic-fil-A opening has caused in the city. For the record, I like the restaurant.
Wow! Judge other people much? Putting these folks down for having some fun sounds rather intolerant to me.
daine: Way to be so very tolerant about other people’s beliefs!! Bigotry is ok as long as youre not bigoted towards gays right?????
@Amanda is there any way to find out tomorrow what the meals tax generated was for Salem? Curious to see what Chickfila brought in for us on their opening day.
@belle: I believe meal taxes are reported to the city on a monthly basis, so Salem won’t know what the meal tax was on a particular day. Come July, we could look at June’s meal tax and compare it to May’s. It’s a good idea.
@Scott, ordinarily I’d agree with your sentiment, but I think daine was just pointing out that Chick-fil-A is a “Christian” company, and that the supposedly positive aspects of that are often highlighted while ignoring the bigotry and hatred that seems to be woven into the very fabric of Christianity and most other religions, with Buddhism, Baha’i, etc. being the only exceptions I’m aware of.
TY, Amanda!
I’ll also go on record as saying that I really like Chick-fil-A’s food, and I always have. The service hasn’t always been the best, but it’s miles ahead of most other fast food places, as is the food.
However, it’s not like we’re talking about a bunch of people who stayed up until midnight to buy a new-release DVD or see a new movie. I seriously doubt that these people were already going to be off that whole day, so at the very least some “schedule juggling” had to be done, and as with any other situation like this, there were probably more than a few people who called in “sick” to spend 24 hours camped out.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with people who can do this trying to score a bunch of free “CHIKIN”, but I think most of the people who did probably owe their co-workers at least one free lunch.
Gravatar check.
Okay, so now I have a Gravatar… big whoop.
Whoops… NOW I have a Gravatar.
Oh, I give up.
A Gravatar to match your name. Nice!
Yep… been meaning to do that for a while.
Just an FYI, I was just having a little fun with my comments above as well. BTW I am also from Salem and Love that we have a Chick Fil A now and I ate there on opening day. So relax its all good