West Springfield Just Got a Drive-Thru-Focused Chick-fil-A, and It’s Built for Convenience
West Springfield’s fast-food lineup has a new addition, but this Chick-fil-A looks a little different from the traditional restaurant many customers may have in mind.
Chick-fil-A West Springfield officially opened Oct. 1 at 1094 Riverdale St., bringing a format designed primarily around customers who want to grab their food and keep moving. Instead of a conventional dining room, the location centers on its drive-thru and includes a walk-up window for carryout orders.
For anyone regularly navigating Riverdale Street for shopping, errands, or the commute home, that focus on convenience may be the biggest part of the story.
A Chick-fil-A Built Around the Drive-Thru
The new restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to Chick-fil-A. The company describes the West Springfield location as being designed for “speed and efficiency,” with service concentrated on the drive-thru and walk-up window.
That approach reflects just how important drive-thru business has become to fast-food chains.
Chick-fil-A, in particular, is known for handling exceptionally busy car lines. The 2026 QSR Drive-Thru Report found that Chick-fil-A recorded an average total drive-thru time of about 7 minutes and 5 seconds, slower than several competitors largely because its restaurants tend to serve heavier traffic. Yet its customer satisfaction score reached 84%, the highest among the brands measured in the report.
Very few of Chick-fil-A customers surveyed described the drive-thru flow as frustrating or inefficient. That helps explain why the company continues experimenting with restaurant designs that put the car lane at the center of the experience.
The Restaurant Is Bringing Local Jobs
The opening also adds a noticeable number of jobs to the West Springfield area.
Chick-fil-A originally estimated the restaurant would create about 75 jobs, while local coverage after the opening reported around 80 positions.
Local Owner-Operator Robert Hewes is already familiar with Western Massachusetts customers. Hewes also operates the Chick-fil-A in Chicopee, which Chick-fil-A identifies as the company’s first freestanding location in New England.
His path to the restaurant business is a little unusual. Before becoming a Chick-fil-A operator, Hewes spent 16 years as a faculty member and department chair at Springfield College. However, his history with the chain goes back much further. He worked at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Pennsylvania during two summers as a teenager and received a Chick-fil-A scholarship.
There’s a Community Component Too
The West Springfield opening came with more than chicken sandwiches and waffle fries.
To mark the restaurant’s debut, Chick-fil-A announced a $25,000 donation to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, a Feeding America partner serving communities across the region.
The restaurant will also participate in Chick-fil-A’s Shared Table program, which directs eligible surplus food from participating restaurants to local nonprofit organizations. Chick-fil-A says the program has helped provide more than 42 million meals nationwide since it began.
Opening day leaned into one of Chick-fil-A’s most recognizable branding elements. Customers who showed up wearing cow spots, whether a full costume or simply a cow-print accessory, could receive a free qualifying entrée or kids’ meal while supplies lasted.
Why This Format Makes Sense
A drive-thru-first restaurant might once have sounded unusual. In 2026, it feels more like a sign of where fast food is headed.
Major chains have spent years rethinking store layouts as customers increasingly expect mobile ordering, quick pickup, and easier ways to get food without sitting inside a restaurant. Chick-fil-A’s sales figures show why the drive-thru remains a priority. Its freestanding domestic restaurants with drive-thrus generated median annual sales of more than $9 million in 2025, according to the 2026 QSR Drive-Thru Report.
Interestingly, the company isn’t relying entirely on automation to run those lanes. Chick-fil-A has said it intends to maintain human interaction in its drive-thru ordering experience rather than moving toward AI voice ordering, an approach some rival chains have tested.
That means West Springfield customers should expect a modern restaurant format without losing the face-to-face service closely associated with the brand.
Another Busy Stop Along Riverdale Street
For Western Massachusetts residents who previously traveled elsewhere for Chick-fil-A, the West Springfield opening provides another option closer to home.
And the new restaurant clearly isn’t trying to be an old-school fast-food hangout. With no traditional dining room at the center of the concept, its purpose is straightforward: move customers through efficiently, whether they stay in their car or walk up to collect an order.
For a busy commercial corridor like Riverdale Street, that may be exactly the point. The newest Chick-fil-A in Western Massachusetts isn’t simply another restaurant opening. It also offers a glimpse into how one of America’s biggest fast-food chains thinks more of us want to order dinner now: quickly, conveniently, and preferably without having to find a table.
