Chick-fil-A to open on Richmond Road in old Applebee’s

Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based fast-chicken chain, will open a restaurant at Richmond Road and New Circle Road in front of Southland Christian Church.

The site is the location of the now-shuttered Applebee’s, which closed late last summer.

Chick-fil-A has Lexington restaurants at 2025 Harrodsburg Road; 2514 Nicholasville Road; Fayette Mall, 3401 Nicholasville Road; Hamburg Place, 1863 Plaudit Place; and at the University of Kentucky.

Chick-fil-A spokeswoman Brenda Morrow confirmed Tuesday afternoon in an email that the restaurant is coming to that spot, but she could offer neither construction details nor a projected opening date.

Chick-fil-A is the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States based on annual system-wide sales. It serves a wide variety of sandwiches, salads and wraps, but its staple item is the original chicken sandwich, a seasoned boneless breast of chicken that is hand-breaded and pressure-cooked in peanut oil, then served on a bun with dill pickle chips.

“We are looking forward to serving all of our customers delicious food in an atmosphere of genuine hospitality,” Morrow said in the email. “Chick-fil-A is committed to serving the communities in which we operate.”

The chain is famed for its First 100 promotion, in which the first 100 customers at a new restaurant get free Chick-fil-A for a year.

Chick-fil-A has restaurants in 46 states and in 2015 opened one in Manhattan. According to the Chick-fil-A website, “Nearly every week a new Chick-fil-A restaurant opens somewhere across the country.”

During January, the chain will open restaurants in DeLand, Fla.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Houston; Kettering, Ohio; Thomson, Ga.; Troy, Ohio; Valrico, Fla.; Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada; and Hutchinson, Kansas.

The chain is closed on Sundays, a decision made by founder Truett Cathy in 1946, when he opened his first restaurant in Hapeville, Ga.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Chick-fil-A to open on Richmond Road in old Applebee’s."