Chick-fil-A on Main Street? Not so fast, some say

It’s nothing personal against Chick-fil-A, but some local restaurateurs don’t want the fast food chain setting up a food cart on Columbia’s Main Street, the state’s restaurant association says.

“I welcome Chick-fil-A” to take over an available building space downtown, said Douglas O’Flaherty, vice president of operations for the S.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association. “If Main Street offers so much business for you, then perhaps you need to make that investment.”

The Five Points Chick-fil-A restaurant has applied for a city business license to set up a sidewalk vending cart at Main and Lady streets. A public hearing on the request is set for Tuesday’s 6 p.m. City Council meeting.

The food sold at the cart – which would be set up under a tent – would be cooked at the Five Points restaurant and transported to Main Street, according to the restaurant’s application to the city. It plans to serve a limited menu of chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, canned Coke products and chocolate chunk cookies.

O’Flaherty said he and restaurant leaders are hoping City Council will take this request as a chance to examine the city’s policies for sidewalk vending and develop a “thoughtful approach” in the way that the city has for food trucks.

The main issue, he said, is encouraging long-term investment in permanent properties.

Though some community members have argued in social media comments and news reports that the issue hints at a push to stifle competition, O’Flaherty says that’s not the case.

“It’s not that (Main Street restaurants are) afraid of more competition. They’re afraid of someone coming in, making the money and leaving,” O’Flaherty said. “We want people to make a more permanent investment.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2017 at 11:28 AM with the headline "Chick-fil-A on Main Street? Not so fast, some say."