Far South Side residents finally have an opportunity to taste the chicken sandwiches and salads at Chick-fil-A, a fast-food chain popular on the North Side and many suburbs, after the restaurant opened Thursday in Pullman. The restaurant is also creating new jobs, boosting the economy of a neighborhood that for decades suffered from job loss and disinvestment.
“I’ve hired around 100 team members,” Pullman franchise owner Elise Mills said. “And I’m really proud that 80% of our team members can walk to work or take local public transportation.”
The 5,100-square-foot Chick-fil-A is the anchor tenant for Pullman Gateway, a new 8-acre commercial center near 111th Street and the Bishop Ford Freeway on the former site of an off-track betting parlor. Construction crews recently broke ground on a Dunkin’ and a Jimmy John’s.
Pullman Gateway was developed by a partnership between the nonprofits Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives and Hope Center Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago. It’s located near Pullman Park, a 180-acre site where CNI is the master developer and that provides several thousand manufacturing, distribution and retail jobs with companies such as Walmart, Method Soap, Gotham Greens and Amazon.
Other new restaurants in the area include Potbelly Sandwich Shop, One Eleven Food Hall, Culver’s and Lexington Betty’s Smokehouse.
“These folks need a place to grab breakfast or go to lunch,” said Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives President David Doig. “That’s the factor driving this restaurant surge. Chick-fil-A saw that and realized they didn’t have much of a presence in this part of Chicago.”
The new restaurants benefit everyone in the surrounding communities, he added. Pullman and nearby Roseland were once packed with retail, restaurants and grocery stores, especially on Michigan Avenue. But business began evaporating in 1970s when the decline of heavy industry gutted the local economy.
A Chick-fil-A spokesperson said the Pullman restaurant at 11131 S. Corliss Ave. is one of 15 new restaurants opening in Chicagoland by 2027, creating an estimated 1,500 jobs. The first Chick-fil-A opened in Atlanta in 1967, and the company now has more than 3,200 restaurants across the U.S.
Business was brisk on the first day, said Mills, a Chicago resident who started working for Chick-fil-A 14 years ago while still in high school.
“I fully expect the Pullman community to support us,” she said.
Doig said the local Culver’s pulled in more than $3 million last year. He anticipates Chick-fil-A will also draw crowds, hopefully enticing another restaurant to Pullman Gateway, where CNI and the Hope Center have one spot left to fill.
“We’re pretty close to a deal with a potential tenant,” he said.
