Chick-fil-A greeted with a big crowd as it opens first location in Ottawa

More than 100 people lined up on foot and in vehicles outside Chick-fil-A at Ottawa's Tanger Outlets on Thursday, as the U.S.-based fast food outlet opened its first location in the capital.

The lineup formed hours before the Chick-fil-A restaurant opened at 10:30 a.m., and first place belonged to Antong Hou and Linoy Gofman, who arrived at 5:30 in the morning. 

"We had it in Toronto together a while back. There's the waffle fries, there's the chicken sandwich with a piece of cheese and all the fixings on it and a drink. It just tastes good, tastes scrumptious," says Hou. "We heard there is a special surprise for the first few customers too, so we woke up very early."

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The first 100 customers were offered a choice of a gift, a mug, or one year of free meals (52 meals).

"It's pretty awesome," says Gofman. "And their chicken sandwiches, nothing beats them."

This is the 15^th Chick-fil-A in Canada, as the company continues to expand across the country. Chick-fil-A is the third-largest restaurant chain in the United States, and a typical restaurant generates nearly $9 million in annual sales. 

Angela Rudd was happy to have a Chick-fil-A close to home.

"Thirty-five years for there to be a Chick-fil-A here in Ottawa, in my hometown," Rudd said, noting Chick-fil-A was her favourite when she lived in the United States.

The restaurant will be open for dine-in, drive-thru and pickup from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Chick-fil-A restaurants are always closed on Sunday. The company says Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on Sundays to "give team members the opportunity to rest, enjoy time with their families and worship if they choose."

First to the Kanata locations drive through, Greg Harris and his father, Neil, who arrived around 6:30 a.m.

"My wife likes it and when we were in Toronto, she really enjoyed the Chick-fil-A and heard a lot of the times when they do the grand opening, the first hundred sometimes get two free meals," which Harris received. "I'm going to get the chicken sandwich, probably the spicy deluxe number five combo and their waffle fries they're famous for that. It's what my wife likes and I'll probably get one of their sweet teas too." 

Chick-fil-A says to mark the opening of the new restaurant, it will donate $34,000 to a local non-profit organization through Second Harvest.

There were no protesters outside the Chick-fil-A when it opened Thursday morning. There were protests outside Chick-fil-A restaurants when they opened in Toronto and Kitchener, protesting the store for its ties to anti-LGBTQ groups.

The restaurant chain has been controversial. CEO Dan Cathy said in 2012 that the company supports "the biblical definition of the family unit." He repeated his stance in a 2018 TV interview but said he is not anti-gay. Critics have also pointed to corporate donations to groups opposed to same-sex marriage.

A second Chick-fil-A restaurant is set to open at the Rideau Centre.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Ted Raymond