Chick-fil-A Pullman

Background: In April 2025, Chick-fil-A prepared to open its newest restaurant in Pullman — a historic South Side neighborhood undergoing revitalization — as part of its broader Chicagoland expansion. While the opening marked a meaningful business milestone, it required navigating local brand favorability challenges and reputational sensitivities within the community.

  • To build trust and demonstrate Chick-fil-A’s commitment to long-term community investment, Nina approached the opening with cultural fluency and strategic counsel, shaping an earned strategy designed to spotlight authentic local impact.

  • The objective: elevate South Side native and Owner-Operator, Elise Mills while emphasizing the restaurant’s role in local job creation, economic growth and community partnership.

Execution: Nina stewarded an integrated, hyperlocal PR strategy to drive positive earned momentum and foster goodwill with key Pullman and citywide stakeholders. Core efforts included:

  • Targeted Chicago media outreach and interview strategy

  • Owner-Operator positioning and message development

  • Community engagement moments, including a neighborhood block party and ribbon cutting

  • Proactive stakeholder coordination and on-site media relations throughout opening week

Her approach prioritized community immersion, local voice amplification and proactive narrative management in a market shaped by complex community dynamics.

Impact: Earned storytelling successfully shifted the narrative from lingering brand misperceptions to tangible community impact — positioning Chick-fil-A as a credible, purpose-driven partner in Pullman’s revitalization at a pivotal moment for both the brand and neighborhood.

  • Chick-fil-A Pullman garnered 53 earned media placements, achieving 100% key message pull-through and 100% neutral-to-positive sentiment.

  • Top-tier coverage spanned Chicago Tribune, WLS-TV (ABC Chicago, IL), What Now Chicago, Chicago Defender and Chicago Business Journal — consistently elevating Mills’ hometown leadership and the restaurant’s role in local job creation and economic investment.

  • Managing a complex network of stakeholders and reputational dynamics, Nina steered the narrative in a historically sensitive market — transforming a potentially polarizing opening into a reputation-affirming milestone and establishing a blueprint for opening future restaurants in nuanced communities with clarity, credibility and care.