On Thursday, Metairie will get its third Chick-fil-A location as a new restaurant will open at the corner of Airline Hwy. and Severn Ave., at 3501 Airline Dr. The new location joins the one on Veterans Memorial Blvd. and the other inside Lakeside Mall.
The Airline Highway & Severn Avenue restaurant joins 25 other Chick-fil-A restaurants in the GNO area. It is the seventh Chick-fil-A in Jefferson Parish. The location will bring 130 jobs to Metairie. Chick-fil-A has more than 3,000 restaurants across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
The Airline Hwy. & Severn Ave. restaurant will be open for dine-in, drive-thru, carry-out, and delivery from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The restaurant will feature Mobile Thru, a drive-thru lane for pick up orders placed ahead of time on the Chick-fil-A App.
Ralph Bartels, born and raised in West Palm Beach, Fla., will serve as the independent franchised local owner-operator of the new Metairie restaurant. Bartels previously served as the local owner-operator of the Chick-fil-A restaurant in Biloxi from 2011 to 2024.
“I joined Chick-fil-A as a 20-year-old college student, working in the kitchen breading chicken, and quickly fell in love with the company’s purpose and vision to be the most caring company there is. I took a leap and asked the local owner-operator at that restaurant if I could shadow him, and that was the best chance I ever took on myself,” said Bartels. “I walked in the doors for my first day as a team member in 2004 and now, 20 years later, I have the honor and privilege to not only be a positive light in the community, but to also guide a new class of team members.”
In celebration of the opening, Chick-fil-A, Inc. donated $25,000 to Feeding America’s Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana. Since 2020, Chick-fil-A has donated $225,000 to Feeding America partners in New Orleans. Chick-fil-A also has a Shared Table program, redirecting surplus food from its restaurants to local soup kitchens, shelters, food banks and nonprofits. Through this program, Chick-fil-A has donated 307,444 meals throughout the New Orleans market. In addition, Chick-fil-A Airline Hwy & Severn Ave. will provide 100 local heroes with free Chick-fil-A entrées for a year.
