ASHWAUBENON, Wis. (NBC 26) — Local officials are bringing in extra officers and traffic control, all ahead of Thursday's opening of a popular fast-food chicken restaurant.
"It's pretty exciting just because it gets kind of old driving all the way down to Appleton if you want to go to Chick-fil-A," Green Bay resident Shannon Hanley said.
Now Hanley is less than 24 hours away from having one right at home.
"Just the fact that we're able to have one right here is pretty cool," she said.
The Green Bay area's first Chick-fil-A opens Thursday morning. To handle the volume of chicken fanatics, Ashwaubenon Public Safety says it will have two officers working to assist with traffic.
"We have some of our officers that are off," Village President Mary Kardoskee said. "They're coming in to work the traffic… because Oneida Street alone is busy."
With a flood of customers expected at the grand opening, drivers will have to go through dozens of traffic cones in Bay Park Square's parking lot before they grab their food.
"From what I understand, Chick-fil-A wants people in and out once they get in that drive-thru line in less than a minute," Kardoskee said. "And from what everybody's told me, that's what happens."
Bay Park Square advises customers to drive north on Oneida Street before turning right onto Anderson. The suggested exit is all the way behind the mall onto Holmgren Way.
Kardoskee says the traffic should benefit other local businesses.
"That mall is full," she said. "There's not a lot of empty space, so this will just help to drive more people into the mall."
For now, the Chick-fil-A is drive-thru only. So Kardoskee says some might want to wait a little longer to get their chicken.
"Unless you want to tell people 'I was there the first day that it opened,' I probably would wait to go until it calms down a little bit," she said.
According to the company, the new Chick-fil-A location will employ nearly 150 full and part-time workers.
