A crowd of community members and eager customers gathered in the Optim Medical Center-Tattnall parking lot on Thursday, February 24, 2022, to welcome the Chick-fil-A Vidalia Food Truck to the city of Reidsville.
The ribbon was cut at 10 a.m. by Sarah Bullard of Chick-fil-A Vidalia. Fellowship followed as attendees enjoyed a limited menu of Chick-fil-A items.
The Chick-fil-A Food Truck will be at this location in Reidsville every other Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. If well-received by the public, the truck will most likely come to Reidsville every Thursday at this same time.
Optim Health System Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Perry shared his excitement for this partnership, thanking Chick-fil-A Vidalia for choosing Optim-Tattnall to host their food truck.
“This is a perfect situation, creating this partnership with Optim,” Perry said. “Hopefully, the community will see this grow over time as our hospital has grown. You don’t know how blessed we are to have something like this in our community. To see all of this happening in Reidsville is really exciting.”
Optim Medical Center-Tattnall is an award-winning hospital, receiving multiple excellence awards for their care. Dr. Casey Spivey and his staff are proud to serve the community with great service at their hospital. He believes partnering with Chick-fil-A will only bring a better experience for Optim patients and the Tattnall County community.
“Optim-Tattnall is a Top 100 hospital in the country. We pride ourselves on providing a great product to good people,” Spivey said. “Having this Chick-fil-A Food Truck here in our town… we are extremely blessed. We are hoping to have them come every week. I think this is going to be a home run for everybody.”
Spivey heavily encouraged this food truck coming to Reidsville, Optim-Tattnall Interim CEO Michelle Sexton. Spivey was approached by the Vidalia Restaurant Operator Britt McDade before the restaurant was approved for it. McDade was not able to make it to the ceremony, but his father, Jimmy McDade, was there in his absence.
Chick-fil-A Vidalia Executive Director Marissa Brown spoke in place of McDade. She spoke of the amazing leadership of McDade and his staff, which led to this endeavor.
“Britt has had many opportunities to go off and start a larger Chick-fil-A, but he loves the rural area. He knew that we would have more opportunities to serve nearby communities. Seventy operations applied for this food truck, and Chick-fil-A Vidalia was one of the five operations to be picked. This speaks volumes to our leadership team.
“If we can give you a chicken sandwich to put an extra smile on your face, we are glad to do it. We hope you guys receive excellent service with an excellent product. We look forward to serving you guys,” Brown said.
Greater Tattnall Chamber of Commerce President Dan Bennett and Reidsville Mayor Curtis Colwell shared their excitement for this food truck.
“We are truly blessed to have this food truck, and we are so proud to have so many dignitaries in the community here. We are glad to welcome this new venture to Reidsville,” Bennett said.