ORANGE, Texas — Despite coronavirus concerns worldwide, the City of Orange knows Southeast Texans still need to eat.
The city announced early February that two new locations of a national coffee shop and a fast food restaurant will be coming to the city.
The new Chick-fil-a has been open for business since 6:30 a.m. Thursday. The line hasn't slowed down since.
All hygiene and social distancing precautions are being taken during the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurant is operating solely through drive-thru and curbside pick up orders.
Traffic seems to be the only concern at this time. If you're ordering through the drive-thru, you're advised to take Frontage Road off of Highway 87 and make a right onto 15th Street.
Curbside pickups should enter through 16th Street and follow the cones to a curbside pickup area.
Orange Mayor Larry Spears said this has been a long time coming, and couldn’t be more excited for his residents and the city.
“We've been overlooked for several decades by potential investors and businesses, and it's like hey we're here. We're alive and well. We're open. We want people to come and start to move this way. So I think it signifies that people are changing their mindset,” said Mayor Spears.
The Chick-fil-a sits on 16th Street near the Interstate on the site of the former Cody's restaurant. Their $965,000 permit was approved in Nov. 2019. This Chick-fil-a is the first location for the restaurant in Orange County.
Mayor Spears said he's excited for the economic development in the city.
There are signs directing people to either the drive thru or curbside spots. This ensures everyone is keeping social distancing guidelines in place.
A Starbucks is planned for the 3100 block of 16th Street at the interstate. Currently there is no Starbucks in Orange County according to Starbucks.com.
Building permits for the $1.1 million Starbucks building have been filed and construction is expected to be completed this summer, according to a file story.
The Director of Planning and Community Development, Kelvin Knauf, says "these are good businesses to locate in Orange, and it just shows that we're very progressive."
