Chick-fil-A opens its new store in a familiar Macon spot. Check out the new drive-thru

After closing down for several months to tear down and rebuild, Macon’s first Chick-fil-A reopened Tuesday in its new restaurant at its same spot on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard.

“We’re glad to be back open,” said Matthew Lemon, executive director for the Chick-fil-A franchise that includes the Tom Hill Sr. Blvd. location as well as another on Bass Road. “It’s been five months. We were glad to get the new store.

“Our store was 30-years-old. We were feeling the growing pains of trying to keep up with the great business that we have at this location. But this new store is going to help us flow and move and serve the guests to the best of our ability now that we have ... all the new stuff, all new equipment, a bigger drive-thru, all of that. It will help us to serve Macon better.

The restaurant opened via drive-thru only due to staffing issues, but new employees have been hired and are in training and more are expected to be hired this week, Lemon said.

The new restaurant can seat 125 customers, as opposed to 80 before the rebuild.

“It’s going to be able to fit a lot,” Lemon said. “I don’t know if you’ve been here during the summer — we used to be fully open before COVID — there was so many people in here, you couldn’t move. You’ll get the buses start coming in and everything else. So, we’re getting ready for it.”

The Tom Hill location was the Atlanta-based company’s 13th free-standing store overall and the first in Middle Georgia built in 1989, according to Telegraph archives. In 2009, the original store closed for a month for a 20-year remodel.

There are four other Chick-fil-A restaurants in Bibb County, with stores located at 1400 Coleman Ave. at Mercer University, at 5055 Brookhaven Road, at 5920 Zebulon Road and at 1569 Bass Road.

A new Chick-fil-A opened in February at 3000 Watson Blvd. in Warner Robins, which makes four locations in Houston County. Meanwhile, Byron got its first Chick-fil-A at 402 Ga. 49 North in 2020.

Telegraph videographer Jason Vorhees contributed to this story.