Here’s when the Bay Area’s latest Chick-fil-A opens

It’s Chick-fil-A day in Milpitas: The mega-popular, politically conservative chicken chain opens its doors on its first location in town on Thursday.

Finally, Virgil King’s grandson can stop bugging him.

“He’s been just jumping up and down saying ‘When grandpa? When is it gonna happen?’” said a laughing King, who works at the nearby 24 Hour Fitness.

The new joint is located on 755 E. Calaveras Blvd., close to the Beresford Square Shopping Center and just off of the Interstate 680 ramp.

The Milpitas location will join two nearby Chick-fil-As down south in San Jose and north in Fremont. The Bay Area as a whole has 18 of the fast food spots. Like other Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country, it is closed on Sundays because of the late founder’s Christian faith.

But unlike at other recent Bay Area openings, the Milpitas Chick-fil-A has drawn little controversy over what critics call its intolerant views on LGBTQ issues.

The site was unanimously approved back in June 2020, despite protests by a handful of residents who raised concerns over the company’s donations to groups accused of being anti-LGBTQ, like the Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Paul Anderson Youth Home. The restaurant’s chairman Dan Cathy has also made comments to various media outlets defending “the biblical definition of the family unit.”

Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran said that the restaurant’s checkered history with the LGBTQ community shouldn’t be a concern to Milpitas residents.

“If we were to look at every business in Milpitas politically, the reality is we’d have to shut down half the businesses,” said Tran. “I ask our community to have an open mind. No one is perfect. Chick-fil-A certainly is not. And I think the most important thing moving forward is for us to coexist.”

Tran visited the restaurant on Wednesday morning for a ribbon cutting along with the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

“This is the next chapter in the town center,” he said.

Members of San Jose’s LGBTQ community protested in 2019 when a Chick-fil-A location opened in Mineta San Jose International Airport. And in 2020, a proposal for one of the restaurants was nixed by a Campbell city commission after residents complained about the company’s political stances as well as the possible influx of traffic.

While a petition was created two years ago on Change.org to block the Milpitas site, it managed to only get roughly two dozen signatures.

In more recent years, the restaurant has advertised its commitment to local charity work. Upon the opening of the restaurant in Milpitas, the company will be giving $25,000 to the nonprofit Feeding America. The site will also be offering a year of free meals to 100 selected residents.

King, who has lived in Milpitas for 35 years, is just jazzed he’ll finally be able to take his grandson, he said. “He has to have those nuggets.”