Chick-fil-A to open 20 Michigan locations within five years

LANSING, MI - Chick-fil-A plans to announce a full "Michigan expansion" at the April 19 groundbreaking of its first free-standing restaurant in the state.

By 2021, there could be 20 locations in Michigan.

Crews will begin working on the Lansing location at 5617 West Saginaw Highway on Tuesday, a Chick-fil-A spokesperson said.

Michigan currently has two food-court Chick-fil-A locations on the Oakland University campus and at Detroit Metro Airport.

The chain plans to open 15 to 20 locations in Michigan over the next five years.

News has leaked through planning meetings across the state. In January 2016, MLive reported Chick-fil-A was eyeing a Gaines Township, Mich. location.

The site plan for that location was approved in late March.

A proposal for a second Grand Rapids-area location will go before the Wyoming planning commission next week.

The 4,971-square-foot Lansing location will seat 132, with additional patio seating. There will be a drive-thru as well. The company aims to employ around 90 people at the new restaurant.

Chick-fil-A also said they plan to open a location inside the Somerset Collection in Troy by the end of 2016.

The Atlanta-based company says they want to open three or four new restaurants a year for the next five years. They're looking at locations in Kalamazoo, Metro Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing.

Word of a Michigan expansion began spreading back in 2013, soon after the company's CEO generated controversy by speaking out against gay marriage based on "biblical principles."

Chick-fil-A is famous for ads featuring cows urging passersby to "eat more chicken" with a slipshod sign.

The company did over $6 billion in sales in 2015. It has 2,015 restaurants in 43 states and Washington, D.C.

It's best-known for their original chicken sandwich.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.

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