It was Chick-fil-A for just one day in downtown Detroit.

The popular chicken sandwich shop opened a temporary pop-up location for three hours Wednesday inside the Chrysler House, 719 Griswold St.

Hundreds of people had lined up by 11 a.m. to get lunch there, nearly filling the building's lobby. There were only two cash registers for ringing them up.

Downtown worker Kelsey Ennis, 23, said the lunch line was even longer than the line that can form on weekends for the full-time Chick-fil-A restaurant at Somerset Collection mall in Troy.

“I’ve been here for like 40 minutes now, so hopefully it’s worth it," the Grosse Pointe resident said as she stood and waited.

Another would-be customer, Dave Campbell, 25, who lives downtown, said he had never before eaten at Chick-fil-A and was eager to try out their food. However, he stood at the very back of the long line at about 12:30 p.m.



“I’m going to stick it out for a little bit; I’m too hungry to turn around,” he said.

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Chick-fil-A staff said they plan to launch more surprise pop-ups in downtown this year. A representative for the Atlanta-based company did not respond to questions about the pop-up, including whether Chick-fil-A is scouting for any new full-time locations in Detroit.

The closest Chick-fil-A restaurant to downtown is in the lobby of DMC Harper University Hospital.

ContactJC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.