Owner of new Chick-fil-A taking another step on long entrepreneurial journey

When the new Chick-fil-A restaurant at Westdale opens Wednesday morning, it will mark the latest chapter in Amgad Zaghloul's entrepreneurial journey.

Zaghloul left a 17-year career at Rockwell Collins, where he was director of cybersecurity, responsible for overseeing the security and protection of all digital information. He had joined the avionics and communications equipment provider in January 1997 in a summer co-op work program while he was in college.

Zaghloul, who was born in Omaha and lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, until graduating from high school at 16, said three factors drove his decision to switch careers.

'If you look back at April or May of this year, there was nothing here but an empty lot,' he said. 'Today, as I see the hustle and bustle of the store with people hoping to be the first 100 customers, it feeds my entrepreneurial spirit.

'I've been deeply convicted lately that I want to more directly integrate my family in what I do every day. I feel there is a great opportunity through a platform like a restaurant to show my children what hard work is and what serving people looks like.

'They will learn how to grow and hopefully I can instill a good work ethic in them.'

Zaghloul said he also wants to invest in his team members, as Rockwell Collins executives saw his potential and invested in him.

Becoming a Chick-fil-A owner and operator is about a five-year process, according to Zaghloul.

'The company gets about 20,000 to 30,000 applicants per year and only about 100 are selected,' he said. 'I had a total of 26 interviews over a three- to four-year process. There were times when I really wondered if this was the right move for me and my family, but it all worked out in the end.

Zaghloul said 85 people will work at the 4,800-square-foot store at 2610 Edgewood Rd. SW. He noted that Chick-fil-A is making its return to Westdale, where it was one of the original tenants when the mall opened in October 1979.

Customers also have developed long relationships with the restaurant chain. Ariel Bliss of Marion was camped out Tuesday in the restaurant's parking lot hoping to be one of the first 100 customers today to be in the running to receive Chick-fil-A for a year.

'I love Chick-fil-A and as a recent college student, getting Chick-fil-A once a week for a year will help with my budget,' Bliss said. 'I've been eating at Chick-Fil-A since I was about 3 years old.'