Chick-fil-A opened its fifth Brooklyn restaurant on Thursday at 1569 Flatbush Ave. in East Flatbush, a standalone store built next to Brooklyn College that arrives with a $25,000 donation aimed at fighting hunger in a borough where food insecurity runs deep. The opening day came with an unusual perk: anyone who showed up dressed as a cow could walk away with a free entrée or kids meal.
The new Brooklyn Junction In-Line location is expected to create approximately 80 to 90 jobs in the neighborhood, according to Brooklyn Paper. It's the chain's first ground-up, standalone restaurant built in New York City, a distinction tied to landlord Marx Realty's 2022 decision to demolish an existing three-story office building on the site and sign a 20-year, 6,000-square-foot ground lease with the chicken chain, according to Marx Realty. At the time of that lease signing, retail rents in the Flatbush Junction and Midwood corridor ran between $90 and $125 per square foot, with commercial developers projecting the location could become one of the chain's highest-grossing stores nationwide.
A Brooklyn Native Takes the Helm
Local owner-operator Natalie Finkelstein, a Brooklyn native, will run the new restaurant. Before joining Chick-fil-A, she co-founded and operated The House of Poké, a fast-casual restaurant concept she launched in 2018, and she previously worked as a speech-language pathologist after earning a master's degree in speech and language sciences from Mercy University.
Finkelstein said opening the restaurant represents a return to her roots and an opportunity to become more involved in the community, per the same report. She said her mission is to increase access to meals and support people experiencing food insecurity, and that she hopes the location will provide a gathering place and career opportunities for Brooklynites. She added that she hopes the restaurant becomes a welcoming place for the borough's diverse community.
Steps From Brooklyn College and the 2/5 Train
The store sits directly adjacent to Brooklyn College and the Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College subway terminal, which serves the MTA's 2 and 5 lines, according to PropertyShark. That positioning gives the restaurant steady access to college students and daily commuters passing through what is one of central Brooklyn's busiest commercial junctions. The Flatbush Avenue restaurant will offer dine-in, carry-out and delivery, with delivery running until 11 p.m., and will be open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Chick-fil-A entered the Brooklyn market in August 2018 with its first location at 166 Flatbush Avenue across from Barclays Center, later adding outposts on Fulton Street, Smith Street and at Gateway Center, according to The Real Deal. The Brooklyn Junction In-Line store is now the borough's fifth Chick-fil-A location. Starting hourly pay at the new store ranges from $17.25 for Front of House Team Members and $17.50 for Back of House Team Members up to between $19.00 and $23.00 for Shift Leaders, according to the company's corporate job listings.
$25,000 Gift Targets a Borough-Wide Hunger Gap
Chick-fil-A, Inc. will donate $25,000 to Feeding America to support hunger relief efforts in New York City, including through the Food Bank For NYC, per Brooklyn Paper. The donation follows a standardized corporate giving practice: Chick-fil-A donates $25,000 to a local Feeding America partner food bank every time a new restaurant opens in the United States, a policy that has generated more than $19 million in grand-opening hunger relief grants since 2020.
The timing lands amid a stark local statistic. A July report by Food Bank For New York City found that 23.5% of NYC children — nearly 1 in 4 — experience food insecurity, with Brooklyn consistently recording the largest total number of residents facing missed meals across the five boroughs. The Brooklyn Junction location will also participate in Chick-fil-A's Shared Table program, which redirects surplus food to local organizations serving people in need.
Nationally, participating Chick-fil-A restaurants across the United States and Canada have donated surplus food equivalent to more than 42 million meals through Shared Table since the program formally launched in 2012. The company says its food donation and operational reduction efforts have also diverted more than 61 million pounds of food waste away from municipal landfills nationwide since 2020.
Cow Costumes Get You a Free Meal
To mark the opening, Chick-fil-A offered a special promotion for guests who showed up in cow attire on Thursday. Anyone arriving in a full cow costume or a cow-spotted accessory could receive one free entrée or kids meal inside the restaurant, while supplies lasted, with no purchase required. The offer was limited to one per person in cow attire per day.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)
