Chick-fil-A will open its first northern Michigan location at 2700 N US Highway 31 S in Traverse City Thursday. To celebrate the grand opening, the restaurant will surprise "100 local heroes making an impact in the Traverse City area with free Chick-fil-A for a year" and donate $25,000 to Feeding America, with funds to be distributed to partners in the greater Northern Michigan area.

Chick-fil-A will be open from 6:30am-9pm Monday-Thursday and 6:30am-10pm Friday-Saturday (closed Sunday) starting March 3. The 5,000-square-foot Traverse City location will feature a multi-lane drive-thru and outdoor canopy for face-to-face ordering. Dine-in, drive-thru, and carry-out service will be available, including contactless ordering and payment through the restaurant's mobile app.

Chris Ramsey is the independent franchised owner/operator of Chick-fil-A Traverse City. Ramsey will be responsible for all day-to-day activities of the business, including employing approximately 100 full and part-time employees, according to Chick-fil-A. “The opportunity to be in a community where little is known about Chick-fil-A has always been a dream of mine,” Ramsey said in a statement. “I am excited to create a place of refreshment for those in the Traverse City area who choose to dine in with us. It is my goal to become Traverse City’s most caring restaurant while providing employment opportunities and a remarkable culture for our Chick-fil-A team members.”

Chick-fil-A has been trying to open a Traverse City location since at least 2019. The next closest location is nearly 150 miles away. The company originally planned to open the restaurant on the Flap Jack Shack property on US-31 across from Meijer, but abandoned those plans after it couldn’t resolve a land use dispute with a neighboring property owner. The company submitted a new application to Garfield Township in 2021 to build a restaurant at its current location between the Williams KIA and Williams Honda dealerships. According to Chick-fil-A, the restaurant can see traffic during peak hours of 100-plus cars coming through its drive-thru.