Customers camp out Wednesday morning at the new Chick-fil-A in Greendale in anticipation of the restaurant opening Thursday. This comes a week after customers camped out for another Chick-fil-A opening in Brookfield.

SHARE Poll Camping out for Chick-fil-A: Would you? Yes. It's worth it. No. What the cluck? I'll eat there, but without camping out. vote View Results Yes. It's worth it.: 16% No. What the cluck?: 40% I'll eat there, but without camping out.: 44% Total Responses: 747

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The fast-food chain Chick-fil-A marked the beginning of its expansion in Wisconsin last week when it opened a just-built restaurant in Brookfield.

As with all grand openings of Chick-fil-A restaurants, fans converged on the site, 12625 W. Capitol Drive, a day early in the hope of being among 100 to receive a year's worth of free food — a digital card for 52 chicken sandwich meals — through the company's Chick-fil-A First 100 promotion.

They're doing it again Wednesday in Greendale, where Chick-fil-A will open another new free-standing restaurant at 5351 S. 76th St. on Thursday. The two suburban Milwaukee restaurants are among 93 the Atlanta-based firm is opening in the United States this year as part of its growth plan.

Although Chick-fil-A's growth once was tied to food-court locations in shopping malls — its only other Wisconsin location is at Regency Mall in Racine — the company now is widening its presence with stand-alone restaurants from the Northeast U.S. to Seattle.

Milwaukee, Madison and other parts of the state are on the company's radar, said Stephen Goins, a Chick-fil-A consultant who helps new owners launch their restaurants.

"We open in Madison in early December. And there will be a second one in Madison probably within 18 months of that," Goins said.

Goins, who briefly worked at a Chick-fil-A in the old Northridge shopping center in Milwaukee 20 years ago, said probably three to five additional stand-alone locations will open in southeastern Wisconsin in the next three years. Eventually, statewide expansion is expected.

"A lot of it depends on how we do," said Goins.

Judging by national consumer sentiment, the odds seem pretty good that people in Wisconsin will be happy to see more Chick-fil-A stores.

A 2013 report by the Chicago-based food industry research firm Technomic showed privately owned Chick-fil-A as consumers' third-favorite chain restaurant overall, behind only Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. It was second, behind Papa Murphy's, among limited-service chains. It ranked first among chicken chains.

Chicken is the only meat Chick-fil-A serves, except for sausage that is part of its breakfast menu. Among other signature offerings are waffle-cut fries and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

According to Technomic, Chick-fil-A had sales of almost $5.1 billion in 2013, which was the most among chicken chains, even though KFC has more than twice as many locations and Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. Chick-fil-A has about 1,800 restaurants in the U.S.

Goins said the mall-location business model began to fade as fewer shopping centers were being built. Now it is putting up stand-alone restaurants in metro areas around the country.

"We're at 80 to 100 restaurants a year being built," Goins said.

Chick-fil-A doesn't do much advertising, he said, but wins new customers by handing out samples at places not far from the restaurants, donating food to local civic groups and becoming involved in the community.

The owner of the Brookfield restaurant — which has about 80 employees — is Jim Fraiser, an operator with lots of Chick-fil-A know-how after working with two locations in Raleigh, N.C. He and his family have moved to Brookfield.

Goins said about 20,000 people a year from many backgrounds apply to become owner-operators of a Chick-fil-A.

Proven leadership is a key characteristic of those selected, he said, and only a few are allowed to own more than one restaurant.

The owner of the Greendale restaurant set to open next week, Joe Bauknecht, previously ran an ROTC program at Marquette University.

"A retired Navy captain, and he went right into this," Goins said.

While chicken — fried or grilled — is the main attraction, Chick-fil-A features chicken wraps, yogurt parfaits, fruit cups, salads and other fare.

"But everybody needs some fries and a milkshake once in a while," Goins said.