SPRINGFIELD – You’ve likely seen the ads of the cows holding up signs telling you to “eat mor chikin” (eat more chicken). You may be able to do that in the coming months in Springfield.
Owned and operated by Carrols LLC, the Burger King at 3200 Northfield Drive was recently closed due to staff illness, according to a manager.
“I’m not going to have sick people touching on people’s food,” the manager said on a brief phone call. “We’re serving children along with women and men and I’m not going to have people getting sick or serving food that will get people sick. We opened at 5:30 (Monday) morning on time.”
The manager confirmed that despite reopening on March 2, the fast-food chain will be closing on March 22.
The location will be turned into a Chick-Fil-A, according to the manager.
“They are building a Chick-Fil-A here, my whole entire team will be going to another Burger King.”
However, Chick-Fil-A Inc. responded denying the claims the location would be turned into the restaurant.
“While we would very much like to have more restaurants in the Springfield area, we have no new locations to confirm at this time,” Ebony Newman, a Chick-Fil-A spokesperson told the SJ-R. “Visit the Chick-fil-A Press Room to learn more about our food, our people and the latest Chick-fil-A news.”
Since October of 2025 the parcel for 3200 Northfield Drive has been listed on commercial real estate websites like Showcase.com for sale advertising the 4,100-square-foot restaurant on 1.25 acres of prime location on Dirksen Parkway. Sangamon County property tax records still list the most recent sale back in 2013, when the property sold for $1.13 million.
There’s currently just one Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Springfield, located off of White Oaks Mall in the west side of town.
The popular fast-food chain opened in Springfield in 2016 at 2431 Wabash Ave. and is packed every day except for Sundays, when Chick-Fil-A’s are closed.
The poultry-touting giant telling you to eat more chicken has been on an upward swing for the past decade, growing from $14.1 billion in 2020 up 60% to a record $22.7 billion in systemwide sales in 2024.
Across 2,730 franchised and company-operated stores, Chick-Fil-A still saw growth in the 2024 fiscal year, even as other large-scale chains like Red Lobster and TGI Fridays filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to the impacts of customers eating out less.
Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@usatodayco.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Manager confirms fast-food chain closing a Springfield location
Reporting by Claire Grant, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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