The rumor mill has been cooking in recent months about fast food restaurants like Chick-Fil-A, Cookout and Dunkin’ Donuts making their way to the Franklin area, but those plans are still going to need awhile to simmer.
Dunkin’ Donuts attracted attention when a job listing for a general manager appeared online, referencing a Franklin location that currently doesn’t exist. Drew Porcello, president of the public relations company Pivot PR that works with parent company Dunkin’ Brands, said on Feb. 19 that the company wasn’t confirming a new store yet.
“We cannot confirm a new store opening at this time,” Porcello said.
Cookout appears to be a safer bet. The company recently purchased the site of the former Dairy Queen at 963 Georgia Road, the company’s website lists the site in their location finder with a “coming soon” bulletin, and some onlookers have reported seeing people inside the building working on it. However, construction near the site is connected to unrelated utility work and none of the necessary permits have been filled out to modify the property yet. Franklin town planner Justin Setser said that he has been in talks with the company for several months, and that they do have plans for a restaurant at the location, but there’s a lot of work left to be done and everything remains subject to change.
“I have been in discussion on the development with Cookout for a few months now,” Setser said. “They do currently plan to reuse the [Dairy Queen] building on the site with façade changes and additions to the rear of the structure. They are also planning changes to the drive-thru and parking lot. They haven’t officially submitted those plans yet, so they could change.”
Chick-Fil-A is the longest rumored and arguably most anticipated of the three restaurants. Despite reports that the restaurant is planning a location on Siler Road across from the Dowdle Mountain Pit Stop, they still seem to be extremely early in the process. Company officials so far will only say they have future plans for Franklin.
Bobby Bishop, chief building official for Macon County, said the company was actively seeking to build a new location in Franklin prior to the pandemic, but they’ve gone silent since then and it’s unclear what their intentions are now.
“It’s probably been about a year now since we talked to Chick-Fil-A,” Bishop said.
Macon County planner Jack Morgan has gotten a little bit more correspondence, but nothing that locks down any more solid details on a new restaurant.
“Members of my department met with representatives of the proposed Chick-Fil-A several weeks ago, but as of this time, we have received no further communication or any applications from them,” Morgan said.