The Norman Transcript 

Chick-fil-A, a Sooner Mall mainstay for many years, will open a free-standing restaurant in Norman Thursday.

The company plans an early morning promotion with coupons for free food. The first 100 adults in line at the new restaurant by 6 a.m. will receive a free, one-year supply of Chick-fil-A awarded by Operator Mike Hilgenfeld.

Company President Dan Cathy, son of chain founder Truett Cathy, will camp out with the crowd, according to Hilgenfeld. The early morning openings draw crowds with some guests camping out a full day in advance. Participants can arrive no earlier than 24 hours before the opening.

The restaurant, 2437 W. Main St., is in front of Hobby Lobby and on the site formerly occupied by Athletic Village. Hilgenfeld said the restaurant will officially open at 6:30 a.m., but guests will begin lining up before then.

The mall store will remain open. A new operator, Phillip Smith, will take over that store Oct. 1. Hilgenfeld said the free-standing restaurant sets 134 and will have between 65 and 75 employees once it is up and operating.

Chick-fil-A operates 1,380 restaurants in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Although Chick-fil-A is known mostly for being inside shopping centers and malls, more than 700 of the stores are free-standing units like the one on Main Street.

The company opened 80 restaurants in 2007. The stores grossed $2.64 billion in 2007, up more than 16 percent during 2006. Same store sales were up more than 8 percent.

The first Chick-fil-A was opened in 1967 in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall. All of the restaurants adhere to a "closed-on-Sunday" policy.

The company encourages employees to continue their education by awarding Leadership Scholarships, which have amounted to more than $23.5 million nationwide and more than $385,000 in Oklahoma since the program began in 1973.

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