TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. \u2014 Chick-fil-A will hold a ribbon-cutting next week at its new restaurant on the site of the former Red Lobster.<\/p>\n
The ceremony will be Thursday, Nov. 12, at 9 a.m. at 1 Miron Lane.<\/p>\n
In a press release, Chick-fil-A promised a free entr\u00e9e or children\u2019s meal to guests who dress in \u201ccow prints\u201d during a Moove-In party on opening day.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince 1995, the Cows have been a beloved part of Chick-fil-A, encouraging humans to skip burgers and \u2018Eat More Chikin\u2019 \u2014 and now it\u2019s Kingston\u2019s turn to join the herd,\u201d company officials wrote.<\/p>\n
Site plans approved on Oct. 16, 2025, for the new business called for the construction of a 5,198-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru featuring two meal-ordering canopies and 101 parking spaces. It replaces the now-demolished 8,400-square-foot Red Lobster sit-down restaurant.<\/p>\n
Developers estimate weekday morning peak traffic from the Chick-fil-A would be 28 vehicles entering and 25 exiting, midday peak at 172 entering and 166 exiting, and evening peak at 142 entering and 119 exiting. Saturday peak traffic would be 195 entering and 187 exiting, they added.<\/p>\n
The company declined an interview about controversies involving Chick-fil-A\u2019s corporate position on LGBTQ rights. The issue arose in 2012 after then-CEO Dan Cathy expressed support for \u201ctraditional marriage,\u201d and over donations to organizations that LGBTQ groups have said are opposed to equal rights. It returned to public discussion Oct. 14 on NBC\u2019s Today show when Cathy\u2019s son Andrew Cathy, who is the current chief executive officer, did not directly answer a question about the company\u2019s position on equal rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focused on hospitality, serving great tasting food and great service,\u201d Andrew Cathy said.<\/p>\n
Representatives from the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center in Kingston were not immediately available Friday, Nov. 6, for comment.<\/p>\n
Support for the restaurant has been evident since the application was filed nearly two years ago, with former town Code Enforcement Officer Warren Tutt saying at the time he was getting questions every day from the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it finally came out, a lot of (Chick-fil-A enthusiasts) \u2026 were jumping up and down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Town Clerk Suzanne Reavy said Chick-fil-A\u2019s reputation for unique sandwiches and flavor is well-earned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the way the chicken and the pickle taste and the pimento cheese on the bun,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just something different. The waffle fries are very good, and the sauce selections are always fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: This story was amended Nov. 6, 2026, at 4:45 p.m. to clarify that Chick-fil-A declined an interview about controversies involving its corporate position on LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. \u2014 Chick-fil-A will hold a ribbon-cutting next week at its new restaurant on the site of the former Red Lobster. The ceremony will be Thursday, Nov. 12, at 9 a.m. at 1 Miron Lane. In a press release, Chick-fil-A promised a free entr\u00e9e or children\u2019s meal to guests who dress in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10487,650,11,120,7,8,39539],"class_list":["post-53398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-restaurants","tag-chick-fil-a","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurants","tag-town-of-ulster"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117571773017302285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}