Chick-fil-A will open a restaurant inside the new Milwaukee Bucks arena, according to numerous sources.
The restaurant will have a presence within the new $524 million arena that opens in downtown Milwaukee on Aug. 26, according to sources familiar with the deal.
A Milwaukee Bucks spokesman would not comment. More details are expected to be announced next week.
Since entering the Wisconsin market with stand-alone restaurants in 2014, Chick-fil-A has been a success with record-breaking sales. When the Chick-fil-A opened at 12625 W. Capitol Drive in Brookfield in September 2014, total sales for the first three days of business at the store broke company records.
Chick-fil-A currently has restaurants at Drexel Town Square in Oak Creek, Mount Pleasant, Greendale, West Allis, Madison and two locations in Brookfield.
A Pewaukee location is also in the works at the Meadow Ridge Shops.
During a 2016 interview with BizTimes, Stephen Goins, a former Chick-fil-A operator who now helps new owners launch their restaurants, said Chick-fil-A hopes to open two restaurants in Wisconsin each year for the next 10 years.
“We’re not pros at the real estate market in Milwaukee, but we develop relationships with the brokers who are,” Goins said. “Ultimately, the sweet spot is high residential, high business and high retail – if we hit two of the three, that’s a spot we want to be in.”
Truett Cathy, the company’s late founder, incorporated Christian values into his business, including closing the entire chain on Sundays. The Chick-fil-A restaurant at Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta, home of the NFL’s Falcons, is also closed on Sundays, which means it usually is not open for Falcons games.
