Business

Plans advance for Dairi-O on Upward, new Chick-Fil-A

By Lightning Reports, Published: December 11, 2019

Plans for a newcomer serving burgers, hot dogs and ice cream and a southside location of the popular Chick-Fil-A restaurant are advancing toward development approval.

The Hendersonville City Council on Thursday OK’d the annexation of a 2.6-acre triangle of vacant land in front of East Henderson High School for a Dairi-O restaurant. The property is bounded by Upward Road, Old Upward Road and Old Spartanburg Road.
And the Hendersonville Planning Board on Monday voted unanimously to recommend zoning approval for a Chick-Fil-A that will be on the site of the closed Rite-Aid store, which the company plans to raze and replace.
Winston-Salem-based Dairi-O, which originated in King in 1947, is known for its hot dogs and milkshakes. It now has seven locations in the Piedmont. The Hendersonville location would be its first in Western North Carolina. Dairi-O bought the five parcels that make up the entire tract in 2017 for $937,000, tax records show.
Dairi-O serves hand-dipped and soft serve ice cream, milkshakes, ice cream floats, flurries and sundaes, hot dogs (with 18 toppings), hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders and chicken Souvlaki, wings, six fresh salads, four home-made soups (chicken and rice, tomato basil, bean and bacon and chili bean) and eight sides. If that’s not enough, Dairi-O also serves fish, barbecue, chuckwagon and grilled cheese sandwiches and a BLT. Plus four more desserts: banana split, hot fudge cake, hot fudge nut brownie and strawberry shortcake. Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Under city policy, the property must be designated a city zoning category within 60 days. The city will initiate a zoning change for the property before development can proceed, said senior planner Daniel Heyman.

Chick-Fil-A plans to raze Rite-Aid building

The new Chick-Fil-A in the Chadwick Corners shopping center would be in a new 4,990-square-foot building on an acre and a half. It would seat 102 people inside and 16 outside, have 60 parking spaces and enough room to stack 28 cars for drive-thru service.
Site plan shows footprint of a new Chick-Fil-A at Chadwick Corners shopping center.In an initial public hearing on the proposal last month, neighboring property owners asked about a stoplight on Spartanburg Highway at Chadwick Avenue, whether parking would be adequate and number of employees.
Nate Thompson, of Chick-Fil-A’s corporate headquarters, said that the building would be moved closer to Chadwick Avenue to better manage the drive-thru traffic and so customers walking from the parking lot into the restaurant would not be crossing drive-thru traffic. He also said this Chick-Fil-A will have in addition to a drive-thru window a drive-thru door that will allow workers to walk out and hand orders to customers in cars. He said Chick-Fil-A restaurants generally employ 100 to 120 people. Joel Benson, manager of the existing Chick-Fil-A in the Highlands Square, said his store has 80-90 employees and little turnover because it pays around $15 an hour.
The new Chick-Fil-A will also have a playground, Thompson said. The company does not have a definite time line for when the new restaurant will be build and open for business, he said.
Susan Frady, the city’s director of the Development Assistance Department, said the NCDOT is not planning a stoplight at Chadwick because that’s too close to the one at the main shopping center entrance.
The conditional zoning request, which allows the city to add requirements, goes before the City Council on Jan. 9.