Changes among fast-food eateries on Cerrillos Road
Mark Ruse, franchise owner of the new Chick-fil-A restaurant in the College Plaza South shopping center, 2400 Cerrillos Road, has begun hiring upward of 100 employees in preparation for a projected mid-April grand opening.
The arrival of a new fast-food outlet with both indoor dining and a drive-thru lane comes as the owner of the neighboring College Plaza shopping center to the north looks for a tenant to replace the recently departed Wendy’s restaurant, which closed after the Wendy’s chain opened a new store farther south on Cerrillos Road.
John Waterbury, whose California-based Waterbury Properties owns College Plaza, said Wendy’s, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, turned over the keys last week because he declined to sell the site and its 24,060-square-foot building, which he said has drawn interest from “a couple of larger chain companies.”
Chick-fil-A has also purchased land next to the Taco Bell in the Las Soleras development at the south end of Cerrillos Road across from the Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Ruse, who had a 25-year career as a civil engineer with the U.S. Air Force, moved with his family to Santa Fe from the Denver suburb of Westminster, Colo., to oversee the new Chick-fil-A. Ruse met his wife, Lisa, an Air Force nurse, during his military career, which included earning three master’s degrees and moving 17 times with his family around the United States and overseas.
In filling jobs for the new business, a company statement said, in addition to flexibile schedules, scholarship opportunities and “the family atmosphere fostered at the restaurant,” Ruse will be able to assure new hires that they will always have Sundays off. The Atlanta-based company has a policy of going dark on Sundays.