Before the ribbon cutting and the first day of business, Josh Grimm found a moment that made opening the new Chick-fil-A in Adams Township feel real: watching his two young daughters play in the restaurant’s indoor playground with their cousins.
It also meant coming home to family.
“That was our dream that is coming true here,” Grimm said. “Getting to see my two little girls play with seven or eight cousins in this playground.”
Grimm and his family joined employees, local officials and company representatives for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, Sept. 30, ahead of the restaurant’s Thursday, Oct. 1, opening. Chick-fil-A Grand Opening Supervisor Jed Vaughn also spoke during the ceremony.
His family and his wife’s family now live within about 15 minutes of the restaurant, giving their daughters the opportunity to grow up near grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.
“Whenever Chick-fil-A told us there was an opportunity here, we were super eager to apply,” he said.
Grimm grew up in the Bethel Park School District and began working at a South Hills Chick-fil-A when he was 15. At the time, he viewed it as a high school job. Family members worked there, and having Sundays off was a benefit.
He later studied civil engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and spent four years working in that field with the Department of Transportation.
But the operator of the restaurant where he started saw another possibility.
“My local owner-operator at that restaurant saw something in me that maybe I didn’t see in me,” Grimm said. “And he shared the opportunity to pursue Chick-fil-A.”
Grimm pursued the company’s competitive operator selection process in 2018 and 2019, completing multiple rounds of interviews before beginning his career operating a restaurant in the Philadelphia area.
His parents, Donald and Angela Grimm, attended the ribbon cutting and described their son as curious, organized and eager for a challenge. They said returning to the Pittsburgh area to operate a restaurant had been a goal he worked hard to achieve.
For them, the opening also brings something more personal: their son, his wife and their grandchildren back nearby.
That emphasis on family helped make the restaurant’s full-size indoor playground one of Grimm’s favorite features.
During a tour, he recalled sitting beside his oldest daughter as she struggled to fall asleep after visiting the restaurant with her cousins the previous evening. When he asked whether she had enjoyed the day, her answer was simple.
“ ‘I want to do that again.’ ”
The restaurant has a larger footprint than many Chick-fil-A locations in the Pittsburgh region, Grimm said. It includes a dedicated Mobile Thru drive-thru lane for customers ordering through the company’s app, along with front-counter service and mobile pickup.
Behind the counter, a meal fulfillment area gives employees space to assemble orders before handing them to customers. In the kitchen, Grimm pointed out the breading area, explaining that chicken is hand-breaded in the restaurant.
His engineering background still shapes how he approaches the work.
Construction began in late April. Preparing to open also meant hiring just over 100 employees in about six weeks.
Grimm said he wants those employees to find the same kind of encouragement and opportunity that helped him advance from a teenage team member to an operator.
“One of my important things is just helping team members reach their goals, whether that’s to pursue Chick-fil-A or to pursue whatever it is,” he said.
During the tour, he described working alongside employees, learning what matters to them and helping them pursue their next steps. He also plans to encourage participation in Chick-fil-A’s employee scholarship opportunities.
The expectations, he said, include hard work, service and enjoyment.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun, but we’re going to work hard,” Grimm said. “We’re going to serve the community.”
Education will be a focus of the restaurant’s community involvement. Grimm hopes to work with local school districts and organizations through fundraising and other activities.
He also said Chick-fil-A’s $25,000 donation associated with the opening will go to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The restaurant plans to participate in the company’s Shared Table program, which directs surplus food to local organizations.
Butler County Commissioner Kim Geyer, vice chair of the board of commissioners, welcomed the restaurant’s arrival.
“It is the most asked-for restaurant by the community,” she said. “We’re so excited to have them as a partner to the community.”
Geyer also connected the development to the widening of Route 228, saying earlier highway access limitations had prevented commercial projects from moving forward. The new restaurant, she said, gives residents another option close to home.
For Grimm, becoming part of that community means being present in the restaurant and caring for the people who work and eat there.
“Every single person that comes in these doors is going to have a different story,” he said.
Asked during the tour whether he would be there every day, Grimm answered without hesitation.
“This is my restaurant. This is my team. This is my community. This is where I want to be.”
The Mars Chick-fil-A will open at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday. The dining room will close at 9 p.m., and the drive-thru will remain open until 10 p.m. The restaurant will be closed Sundays.
