By Hunter Murdaugh
The restaurant began serving its first customers at 6 a.m. at 1302 U.S. Highway 27 N and with that created 125 jobs, according to the company’s press release.
The new location becomes the fourth Chick-fil-A operating in Carrolton and the third standalone restaurant in the city. The non-standalone location operates inside the University of West Georgia’s University Campus Center and primarily serves the student body and faculty that populate and visit the campus.
Daniels, who has worked with Chick-fil-A, one of the country’s most popular fast-food chains, since 1988, now operates three of the city’s restaurants; this includes Chick-fil-A Carrollton (S Park Street) and Chick-fil-A Bankhead Highway, aptly named.
“I started with Chick-fil-A as a teenager washing dishes, and I could never have imaged the journey ahead,” Daniels said in a press release. “Carrollton is home. I’ve raised my family here and watched this community grow in incredible ways.”
The opening of the North Carrolton location reflects the continued growth of the brand within Carrollton, a city that has experience a 12.6% population growth from 2010 to the latest census data recorded in 2022. The main university in the city, West Georgia, has also experienced quick expansion as the school has added many new degree programs and recently made the jump to Division 1 athletics in 2024. According to the university, in Fall of 2025 there were a total of 16,072 students, which marked an all-time high and an 11.7% increase over the previous year. That percentage also marks the highest percentage of growth in the University System of Georgia over that same period according to the state website.
The restaurant will follow standard company hours and will be open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and offers dine-in service, drive-thru ordering, carry out, third-party delivery, and mobile ordering options.
Like many Chick-fil-A locations, the new restaurant also includes a playground area designed to support families with children.
With the addition of the new location, Daniels will now oversee more than 400 employees across the three Carrollton restaurants.
After working for the company within several roles, he was selected as the owner-operator of Carrollton’s first Chick-fil-A in 1997.
Since the, Daniels has spent nearly three decades building the brand locally, while also mentoring employees and supporting community initiatives. With the opening of Chick-fil-A North Carrolton, he said he hopes to continue strengthening those connections in the community he has called home for many decades.
Along with bringing new jobs to the area, Chick-fil-A announced several initiatives tied to the opening of the new location.
To celebrate, Chick-fil-A Inc. donated $25,000 to Feeding America, an organization that distributes funds to partner organizations in the greater Atlanta area to help fight hunger in the state.
The restaurant will also participate in the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program, which takes surplus food from restaurants and gives to local nonprofit organizations. According to the restaurant chain, the program has helped create over 42 million meals for people in need across the country.
Daniels has also supported many education opportunities for the employees working at his restaurant locations. Over the years, he has awarded more than $220,000 in scholarships to team members that worked at the other two Carrollton franchises.
Chick-fil-A founded in 1967 by S. Truett Cathy, has grown into the third largest fast food restaurant chain in the United States. The company operates more than 3,000 restaurants now across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and now Europe as recently as last year. The chain also now employs more than 200,000 restaurant team members through its owner-operator franchise model.
Unlike many other fast food franchises, Chick-fil-A restaurants are operated by local owner-operators who are responsible for all day-to-day operations and community involvements in the many areas they serve
With three standalone locations now operating across Carrollton, a city that only covers a total area o 22.8 square miles, and another on the campus of the University of West Georgia, Chick-fil-A continues to expand its footprint and impact in the city.
For Daniels, the new restaurant location represents both the opportunity to continue business growth and to continue investing in the local community in which he has lived and worked for decades.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue building something meaningful here,” Daniels said in the release, “so that every guest feels cared for and every team member knows this is a place where their story gets better.”