Chick-fil-A fans flock to Aurora in hopes of a free meal ... or 52
Armed with snacks, tents, sleeping bags and games to sustain them, about 100 Chick-fil-A fanatics converged on the fast-food chain's parking lot Wednesday, many 24 hours before Thursday's 6 a.m. opening of the restaurant's newest location in Aurora.
There was an ulterior motive: The first 100 adults in line will receive a one-year supply of free Chick-fil-A meals (52 certificates). The marketing gimmick started six years ago and has attracted large crowds in other cities.
So large, in fact, that some openings attract too many people and raffles must decide who will be among the first 100 allowed to camp out, said Aurora Chick-fil-A operator Doug Lockwood.
The Aurora site, along Route 59 near the Westfield Fox Valley shopping center, is the first in the Chicago area and attracted just less than 100 people before 11 a.m. But not wanting to take a chance, Naperville residents Phil Weckerle and Conor McLaughlin, both 21, arrived at 11 p.m. Tuesday night.
Weckerle said he even arranged to take quizzes and finish class work early at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said. "When you're 30, you can't do stuff like this anymore."
Lockwood said he was pleased with a strong turnout in a new market, where the closest Chick-fil-A is in Racine, Wis. Others are in Bloomington, Carbondale, Charleston, Edwardsville and Urbana.
But, said Lockwood, suburban residents aren't strangers to the food.
"People from the Chicago area are very transient and there are lots of people who have had it in other parts of the country," he said.
That includes campers such as Julius Borchert of Aurora, who learned to love Chick-fil-A while visiting his father, who lives in Dallas, Tex.
After taking a day off work and arriving at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, Borchert said he's thrilled to have one of his favorite restaurants opening so close to home.
"It's the great day to celebrate and be part of this, " said Borchert.
Other families traveled from as far as Colorado and Ohio for the event, with some of them being repeat Chick-fil-A campers. And soon they'll have more reason to trek back to our suburbs, as plans call for continued growth for the company with 78 new stores to open this year, including two others in this market.
Openings are scheduled in Orland Park in October and Wheaton in November. In 2011, the company said, it plans three more restaurants in this area.
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