Chick-fil-A restaurants opening in Bradenton, Tampa hire 160 staff

Two Chick-fil-A restaurants are opening this week in the region, including one in Bradenton that is welcoming guests for its grand opening and another in Tampa that has relocated. Both will be in business effective Thursday, May 15.

Chick-fil-A will open in Bayshore Gardens at 6010 14th St. W. in Bradenton starting at 6:30 a.m. It will be open Monday to Saturday until 9 p.m., with the drive-thru available until 10 p.m. The eatery will offer dine-in, drive-thru, carryout, delivery and catering service. 

To staff the restaurant, owner-operator Nathan Anderson hired 130 employees, according to a statement. Anderson, a Florida native, served as a Chick-fil-A owner-operator in Colorado for nearly a decade before moving his family as well as his entire leadership team to the area to open the Bradenton restaurant.

“Our goal at Chick-fil-A Bayshore Gardens is to do more than serve great food — we want to create opportunities for our leaders to grow and make a difference,” Anderson says in a statement.

Anderson also aims to enrich the community by participating in the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program, which redirects surplus food to local nonprofits; donating $25,000 from Chick-fil-A Inc. to Feeding America to support local hunger relief efforts in the Bradenton area; and recognizing 100 local heroes impacting Bradenton by giving them free Chick-fil-A entrees for a year.

About 60 miles north, another Chick-fil-A will also be opening May 15 in Tampa.

Chick-fil-A North Dale Mabry will reopen at its new location at 3800 Ehrlich Road. It will feature an expanded drive-thru, including one lane dedicated to orders placed on the app, as well as a modernized dining room with refreshed décor and a designated mobile pickup counter. It was previously located at 15801 N. Dale Mabry Highway, a little more than a mile away.

To staff the newly relocated restaurant, Chick-fil-A North Dale Mabry will add 30 new team members for a total roster of 95 employees.

Ricardo Sanchez, who has served the Tampa community for more than 20 years, will continue as the local owner-operator of Chick-fil-A North Del Mabry alongside operating his Chick-fil-A Lutz restaurant. 

Chick-fil-A Del Mabry will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for dine-in, drive-thru, carry-out, catering and delivery service.

There are more than 3,000 Chick-fil-A restaurants across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, according to a statement, which says the company employs over 20,000 team members. This year it opened its first restaurant in the UK, where Chick-fil-A plans to launch five locations in the next two years. In late 2025, Chick-fil-A expects to open its first Singapore restaurant, marking the brand’s entry into Asia.

Chick-fil-A is the third-largest fast food company in the United States based on revenue, after McDonald’s and Starbucks, according to QSR’s 2024 “Top 50 Fast-Food Chains.” Chick-fil-A posted nearly $21.59 billion in sales in 2023, according to QSR. Truett Cathy founded the privately held company in 1967, which is headquartered in Atlanta