TEXARKANA, Texas - People come for miles to visit Chick-fil-A. For that reason, Sanel Thomas, owner of Chick-fil-A in Texarkana's Central Mall has decided instead to bring Chick-fil-A to these long suffering fans of their food.
"The trailer is a serve-only trailer," he said. "The food is cooked in our restaurant, loaded up in the trailer, and delivered hot to the waiting customers in other locations 30, 40 or so minutes away. Places like Atlanta and such which don't have a Chick-fil-A, we bring it to them and save the trip."
The trailer is almost ready to go. In addition to preparing the trailer for the voyages, Thomas and his staff are sending out forms to people in places that might want a visit from the trailer.
"We will plan the trips based on the interest we gauge from these forms," he said. "When the trailer goes out, it will have a set menu, based on what it is carrying. We will go out with a menu based on that, and adjust for that location based on what sells and what our customers there tell us what they want."
Thomas himself is a man who has come a long way in his enthusiasm for Chick-fil-A. Joining a local restaurant in his very first job, he found out he liked it there a lot.
"I joined my first crew in 2011," he said. "I worked there through 2016. I made my way through high school, then college and in 2017, I went to work for the corporate office in Atlanta, Georgia. There, I met lots of great people and fell in love with the values and the brand. I like to think of Chick-fil-A as a people place disguised as a chicken restaurant."
Thomas gain a variety of experiences at corporate - including opening up other Chick-fil-A restaurants. He decided he was ready for the next step.
"I came to Texarkana in late 2019 to take ownership of my own franchise site," he said. "This is a people biz, we are known for taking care of our customers. People come to us for more than food. As I like to say, food is great, people are better."
(Chick-fil-A is at Central Mall, 2400 Richmond Road. Find them on Facebook, or Instagram @CFACentralMallTX)