American restaurant chain Chick-fil-A says it plans to open more than a dozen restaurants in Canada over the next few years.

The company announced Wednesday that it will open a location in Toronto in 2019 and plans to open 15 restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area over the next five years.

According to the company, each restaurant will have 50 to 75 employees.

Chick-fil-A is best known for its breaded chicken sandwiches. Company officials say all Canadian locations will use chicken meat sourced from within the country.

The company has more than 2,300 restaurants in the United States and one in Canada, at the Calgary International Airport.

Its operations have occasionally been controversial. In 2012, Chick-fil-A restaurants became the unlikely epicentre of pro-LGBTQ protests after company president Dan Cathy expressed support for the “biblical” definition of marriage and said proponents of same-sex marriage were “inviting God’s judgment.”

The chain also closes its restaurants on Sundays to give its employees a day of rest in deference to the Christian beliefs held by the Cathy family, which founded the company in 1967.

The announcement of the company’s expansion into Ontario garnered a mixed reaction on social media, with some people praising its food and others criticizing its social practices.

Best chicken sandwich ever! — TheUnOfficialPagePolaRex™ (@TheUnOfficialPg) July 25, 2018

Awesome they have the best chicken there!!! — Torontologist (@NudeToronto) July 25, 2018

Fantastic

I hope it is one of many more Chick-fil-A’s to OPEN UP in Ontario !

Great tasting Chicken Sandwiches ! — Liverpool (@StevenK16915933) July 25, 2018

Owned by an ultra-religious family who are completely against same sex marriage and have actively donated to traditional family only causes. Boycott Chick fil a. They are not what Canada needs. — Monica Webster (@Louiseknees444) July 25, 2018

Only location available: Church Street. — Matthew Forbes (@VaughanPappy) July 25, 2018

No thank you . Don’t we have enough fast food restaurants sitting on every major street corner? — Anne (@anne143nkotb) July 25, 2018

With files from The Associated Press