4/19/15
Chris, Brittany and Emma Grace Liberatore (R) Mitch Ralston (L)
(Cleveland)- The owner/operators of the new Chic-Fil-A in Cleveland used the terms “ excited” and “very excited” over and over again to describe their opportunity to open a franchise in Cleveland as they met with local community leaders Friday. Mitch Ralston, President of United Community Bank in Cleveland, set up the meeting, UCB is the lending agency for the Cleveland project.
Chris and Brittany Liberatore said when they started looking where to relocate they wanted to center on a small town. Chris Liberatore said, “ this is going to be very exciting,” and are looking forward to working with the schools and others in the community. He told the group, “ my wife and I have been looking at coming to this community since last year and we are unbelievably excited to get the opportunity to move here and to start our lives here to raise our kids and family and open up a business to hopefully have a positive impact with everybody else.”
It could be August or September before the facility opens and Liberator said since the lot where the store will be located is very large, for a regular size Chick-Fil-A, they will be building a completely different type facility which will include a big playground and large parking lot. He said this store will be known as the “Cabbage Patch Chick-Fil-A”, because it is being built on the property of the original Cabbage Patch Kids. The operating hours will be 6:30 AM until 10 pm.
Ralston told the crowd, “ one of the things I’m excited about they are coming into the downtown area, who everybody is worried what’s going to happen to downtown, what’s going to happen with the bypass going around, what’s going with all of this kinda stuff and they are coming in to really solidify I think a lot of things in the community and it’s going to be a great place and they are going to raise the standard I think. It’s all about iron sharpens iron and they are coming in to help us raise some of the standards that we have which are top notch.”
Liberatore said, the meeting they had Friday was very unusual, you don’t get that everywhere you open a store.
The Liberatore’s who have a young daughter have already purchased a home in Clarkesville and look forward to moving to the area in a couple of months.
Another Chick-Fil-A is also under construction in Blairsville, Chris Liberatore’s brother will be the owner/operator of that store.
