Chick-fil-A Has Successful First Year Of Business In Severna Park

Chick-fil-A of Severna Park celebrated its first anniversary on October 10, and owner Chris Schenck will continue to work hard, striving to provide excellent service, a family-friendly atmosphere and support to the local community. “At Chick-fil-A at Severna Park, we believe in providing our guests the best restaurant experience we can,” Schenck noted. “My team and I are committed to providing great food, friendly customer service and a comfortable dining experience.”

Unlike owners of some other franchisees restaurants, Schenck grew up locally, graduated from Annapolis High School and studied at Anne Arundel Community College. “I am not an out-of-towner,” he said. “My dad taught at the Naval Academy, and my mom taught at Annapolis High.”

The Severna Park Chick-fil-A took over the location of the former Kentucky Fried Chicken, which sat vacant along Ritchie Highway for a long period of time. The closing of both KFC and neighboring Popeye’s created a lack of chicken restaurants in Severna Park, and fans eagerly awaited the opening of the new Chick-fil-A.

Today, Schenck has been particularly proud of the service his restaurant provides, especially with the drive-thru. As an added benefit to customers, Schenck recently deployed an order-taker to stand outside by the drive-thru to personally take orders during peak times.

“We really pride ourselves in giving that extra level of service,” Schenck said, adding, “Our goal is to be incredibly fast but not rush the guest. We take a lot of pride in how fast and accurate our drive-thru is.”

Every Wednesday from 5:00pm to 8:00pm is Family Night at the Severna Park Chick-fil-A, when the restaurant does something special to promote family activities. Recently, family night events included a daddy-daughter date night and a mother-son date night. It even held a fun mystery dinner theater night, when families played detectives in solving a case of the “missing lemons.” For the kids, Santa Cow will visit with patrons at the restaurant on Saturday mornings in December.

Schenck is a strong supporter of community service. “I’m always actively looking for ways to give back to community,” he said. Many local organizations turn to Chick-fil-A for fundraising support. Chick-fil-A cow wall calendars are a popular item for groups to sell to raise funds. Each calendar has a set of coupons that patrons can redeem for specials. “The calendar fundraising is easiest fundraiser to do,” Schenck noted.

Chick-fil-A also hosts other fundraising efforts. Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday are spirit nights, when organizations can register and receive 20 percent of the sales from that evening.

In addition, Severna Park Chick-fil-A has worked closely with the Greater Severna Park and Arnold Chamber of Commerce, has sponsored the Severna Park Fourth of July Parade and will sponsor this year’s Severna Park Christmas Tree Lighting. It plans to hold a canned food drive sometime later this year. “It is important to us to be active in the community,” Schenck shared.

The restaurant also sports a very informative website to serve as a useful source of information and be a positive extension of the restaurant. More information about its menu, nutrition, fundraising, catering and upcoming events can be found at www.cfarestaurant.com/severnapark/home.

Overall, Schenck has been pleased with the restaurant’s first year in operation. “Things are going well,” he summarized. “I knew I always wanted to be in the area, and I’d be very happy to be where I am for the next 30 or 40 years.”

Chick-fil-A is located at 511 Ritchie Highway in Severna Park. The restaurant is open from 6:00am to 10:00pm Monday through Saturday. For more information, visit the website or call 410-647-6232.