Residents of Newton County will have another place to “Eat Mor Chikin” following Chick-fil-A opening its store at Alcovy Road on Tuesday. 

Chick-fil-A’s official opening was preceded by last Sunday’s dedication ceremony and Monday morning’s ribbon cutting. 

Dozens of people were on-site to celebrate the ribbon cutting on Monday, too. Newton County Chamber of Commerce president Debbie Harper in addition to other Chamber members as well as Chick-fil-A restaurant operators from other areas were in attendance. 

Having so much support to celebrate this occasion was special to Chick-fil-A Alcovy Road’s restaurant operator, Chris Giella. 

“It feels nice…just the support, not only for me, but for my team. I think that’s the biggest thing and I think it’s what the team looks forward to the most as well,” Giella said. “It felt great, especially all the business sectors we have represented [on Monday]. It feels good, because you hope and pray your team is doing well and all that support shows that they are.” 

Chick-fil-A Alcovy Road is located at 11500 Town Center Drive in Covington and is now one of more than 185 to serve the “wider Atlanta market,” according to a press release. 

The store will be open for dine-in and carry out Monday-Saturday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the drive-thru open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. also Monday-Saturday. 

Customers will also have the option to order from the Chick-fil-A app or online, whether it be pick up, dine-in or delivery. They, too, can join the Chick-fil-a One tiered membership program to receive points on every qualifying purchase, per a press release. 

A mobile drive thru is also available at the new store’s location. 

Chick-fil-A Alcovy Road is the latest of openings at the Covington Town Center. Giella expressed his excitement for joining that developing area.

“Being a part of the Town Center is huge. Being part of this development and all that’s coming here…basically we’re going to have 1,000 households behind us once everything’s completed,” Giella said. “And also the growth going forward from here to Jersey, going out to Social Circle with Rivian coming. And all the other partners we already do business with that are here… now we’re closer and we can serve them better as well.” 

Giella will still be Chick-fil-A Covington’s restaurant operator, which is located at 4172 Hwy 278. 

Even though Giella is not from the area — he even said he was not aware of the film industry presence or of any shows being filmed in Covington — he is grateful to continue serving the Covington-Newton County area. 

“It’s been a long journey,” Giella said. “I really enjoy the area and the people and just trying to be a part of a small town — but not too small, but rural. So, it’s just special. And now to how we’ve grown, we’ve been such a vital part of the community. Now, we have people who used to work for us that are school teachers, teacher of the year and different parts of the school system and different parts of industry around. 

“So, it’s exciting. We’ve had team members grow and become a part of home office and stuff like that. That’s the best part of it is seeing your people grow.”