Eat more chicken?

Recently, Jason Dittman and his wife, Jodi, realized they had a problem. Their Tampa Chick-fil-A store was simply not built to accommodate the growing number of customers they serve.

Their store, which the Dittmans opened in 1997, was the Tampa market's first free-standing location. The couple knew that 17 years later, the store needed a full refresh.

“The original building was not built to do the sales volume we enjoyed,” Jason Dittman, 43, says. “We made several attempts to fix the parking, the kitchen, the drive thru... Every fix revealed a problem more glaring.”

They learned quickly that fixing their issues in a piecemeal fashion wasn't the most efficient approach. They realized with the money they were spending on upgrades, they could build a new building. So that's what they decided to do.

The demolition and rebuild was a joint effort between Chick-fil-A corporate and the Dittmans, who work as owner operators of the location, subleasing the restaurant from corporate. Their location on Waters Avenue in Tampa has consistently ranked as one of the top two performing stores in the Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg market. Although Dittman declined to share store-specific revenues, chainwide revenues for its 1,800 locations topped $5 billion in 2013.

But Dittman convinced corporate that the store would do better in a new building. Dittman's location was one of four rebuilds and 93 new restaurants the chain plans to open in 2014, according to a company statement.

Counting lost sales and construction costs, the effort cost more than $5 million. Corporate covered the cost of all construction, but the lost sales during construction were a hit to both the Dittmans and Chick-fil-A. Dittman insists it was well worth the investment.

In August, they demolished the existing property. Without adding any square footage to the building, they were able to come up with a fresh layout that made better use of the overall space. They added 13 spaces to the parking lot and 70 additional seats to the dining room. They also enclosed the playground, so they'd no longer have to worry about kids getting sick in the humid weather after eating.
Another key change was to reposition the building to allow for better traffic flow. Instead of two circles going in and out, they built a double lane for drive thru ordering.

The rebuild was not without its hurdles. The restaurant was closed 4.5 months during construction. When they closed, Dittman was worried about his employees and customers returning. Out of his 52 employees at the time, he was able to help every employee who wanted to be relocated find a temporary job during closing. All but 10 of the 52 returned once the location reopened, and three others were able to relocate permanently to other areas.

To meet expected demand, Dittman hired an additional 66 employees, bringing his total employee count to 110. Some of the additional resources were brought on to fill positions that they had held off on hiring, since they knew the closure was coming.

His biggest challenge now is helping his team become more accustomed to the new layout and to working with new team members. Dittman tried to prepare the team for the change, opening the building two weeks in advance for training, simulating busy lunch hours by bringing in local high school seniors for free food. “But there's nothing like the real thing,” he says. “Growing pains are growing pains.”

Dittman admits he wasn't nervous about the push to rebuild until the building was gone. “I had a nightmare that it opened and no one came back,” he says. But after his reopening in early November, he realized the pent up demand would be plenty to keep him busy. The grand opening even attracted customers who camped out to get free Chick-fil-A for a year.

Dittman can't wait to see what the next phase of his Chick-fil-A brings. Both of his sons work at Chick-fil-A and his two daughters help out as well. Dittman started with the company in high school at a Daytona Beach Chick-fil-A, which is where he met his wife.

“Maybe they'll continue the legacy,” Dittman says. “My 10-year-old is dying to get in the cow suit.”

LIGHTS ABLAZE
Since opening, the Dittmans always enjoyed a steady stream of lunch traffic. But they couldn't find a way to draw more people to the restaurant at night.

In 1997, after first opening, they decided to put Christmas decorations on the building to see if it would attract more visitors. Every year, they've grown the tradition to make the holiday season a community event at the Waters Chick-fil-A.

The Dittmans host concerts every night with local schools, they have Santa visits and they make the lighting ceremony an event to attend. Now the holiday season is the location's busiest time of year.