Three popular chain restaurants are opening side-by-side in Warner Robins

Three new restaurants are opening soon side-by-side in the 3000 block of Watson Boulevard.

Chili’s Bar & Grill is now hiring, with plans to open Feb. 8, said Devon Cutler, the restaurant’s manager.

The restaurant shares the former Toys R Us site at 3000 Watson Blvd. with a new Chick-fil-A. Both restaurants are nearing completion.

The new Chick-fil-A is expected to open in early March, with the fate of its current location on Watson Boulevard uncertain, said manager Jonathan Jenkins.

Rock N Roll Sushi, along with a vape shop, are expected to open in a shared building at 3010 Watson Blvd. in the next two to four months, said building owner George Snelling of Augusta. Rock N Roll Sushi will be located in part of the building that parallels Watson Boulevard next to the new Chick-fil-A.

Chili’s

Chili’s is expected to hire 77 workers for the restaurant, which is located at the corner of Margie Drive and Watson Boulevard.

“There’s a lot of openings available front to back — cooks, servers, hostess,” Cutler said.

Scheduled and walk-in interviews are currently being conducted at the nearby Hampton Inn at 4000 Watson Blvd. from 9 am to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. through Jan. 12 and then only at the restaurant through Feb. 2, Cutler said.

Hourly team members earn on average from $10 to $20 per hour, according to the corporate Chili’s website. A salaried certified shift manager on average starts at $38,000 annually.

The Texas-based restaurant chain offers casual dining and is known for its Big Mouth burgers, house smoked ribs, fajitas and hand-shaken margaritas, according to the company website.

Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A also is building its team for its new location but conservatively as it awaits word from corporate on the fate of its existing site on Watson Boulevard near Robins Air Force Base, Jenkins said.

The long established restaurant at 1867 Watson Blvd. has a customer-base that includes workers at Robins Air Force Base, the state’s largest employer, and nearby Houston Healthcare, also a major employer in Houston County.

Jenkins said they don’t want to leave those customers and that part of town.

Corporate had plans to “scrape” the current location for a “rebuild” on the new site, but Jenkins said they’re lobbying corporate to keep both Watson Boulevard locations.

If that happens, his boss, Pat Braski, would own and operate four Chick-fil-A locations in Houston County, Jenkins said. Most Chick-fil-A owner/operators have only one restaurant location, and only a few have as many as three, Jenkins said.

Braski’s other locations include the Chick-fil-A at 790 Ga. 96 in Bonaire and the Chick-fil-A inside the Houston County Galleria mall.

The new location is near the mall, and the fate of the mall location also is “a bit uncertain,” Jenkins said.

The lease for the mall location runs out at the end of the year, and there have been discussions of closing it or using it as a hub for the restaurant’s catering business, Jenkins said.

The pending decision on the current Watson Boulevard site and how the new location performs factor into what will be determined for the mall location, he said.

A decision on the current Watson Boulevard site from corporate could come as early as Friday, Jenkins said.

The Georgia-based, fast food restaurant, which specializes in chicken sandwiches, also is known for its customer service and for being closed on Sundays.

Rock N Roll Sushi

Rock N Roll Sushi is opening a second location in a newly constructed building at 3010 Watson Blvd., Snelling said.

The same restaurant owner opened a Rock N Roll Sushi at 794 Ga. 96, Suite G102, in Bonaire in September, Snelling said.

The new restaurant is expected to open in the next 120 days, he said.

In the other part of the building, which faces the side of the Olive Garden restaurant, War-Town Vape & Smoke is expected to set up shop within about 60 days, Snelling said.

“With Chick-fil-A and Chili’s moving up there, certainly it sort of solidifies that corner area as a really kind of a focused spot,” Snelling said.

He said some restaurants look to locate near a Chick-fil-A for potential runoff business.

“Chick-fil-A, they have circle of people that love to be right next to them if they can,” he said.

This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 1:32 PM.