Plans for Chick-fil-A's third Downey restaurant approved by planning commission

DOWNEY — The Downey Planning Commission gave the green light on Wednesday for Chick-fil-A to take over the current Frantone’s Pizza site.

Frantone’s and neighboring Chris’s Burger, located at 9180 and 9148 Telegraph Rd. respectively, will both be demolished to make way for a 4,777 square foot Chick-fil-A, including three drive-thru lanes and an outdoor seating area.

The fast-food chicken location is anticipated to operate similarly to others within the chain, Monday through Saturday from 6 am to 11:30 pm.

Frantone’s has been a mainstay in Downey since opening in 1964. Ownership confirmed in late January that the Downey location would be closing at the end of the summer, while the Cerritos location would remain open.

There were several somber comments from members of the Planning Commission, expressing sadness to see Frantone’s go.

Commissioner Mario Guerra said that “he’d rather have Frantone’s than Chick-fil-A.”

“We have property owners rights, and as much as I don’t want Johnny and Anthony [Tesoriero] to sell their property, they want to sell it and they’ve chosen this operator,” said Guerra. “We don’t have a choice of operators either, although this is a good company in many ways. We have seven McDonalds in the city of Downey, and the only reason we have that is because residents keep going to McDonalds…The fact this is the third Chick-fil-A, more power to the residents who are supporting Chick-fil-A for whatever reason.

“Yes, I’d rather keep Frantones there; I don’t have that choice…”

Chair Horacio Ortiz Jr. said Frantone’s “left a great impact on our community.”

“What I would say is that’s why it’s important to support local businesses, so that we can continue thriving together,” said Ortiz. “It is [Frantone’s] who have dramatically changed a lot of people’s lives, and my life, so I appreciate what you have done.”

Owner Anthony Tesoriero said that he and his brother were “very happy to have [Chick-fil-A] on our property.”

“I’m very glad to hear that you hate to see us go, but this is our end game, and this is something we’d like to do,” said Tesoriero. “We actually chose Chick-fil-A because we feel that they have a very good reputation in the existing neighborhoods, and in our existing stores here, and they’re a very, very good company.

“They seem to express the same type of attitude about the city’s they’re in. We’ve always tried to give back to our community as much as possible; it’s been our thing. And they also are that type of business, and that was one of the reasons we chose them.”