Customers line up to dine at Ottawa's newest Chick-fil-A

A long line outside Ottawa's newest Chick-fil-A at the Rideau Centre. (Josh Pringle/CTV News Ottawa)

Dozens of people lined up early in the Rideau Centre Thursday morning for a Chick-fil-A sandwich.

Chick-fil-A's second Ottawa location opened in the food court on the second floor of the mall at 50 Rideau Street at 10 a.m.

At 9:30 a.m., approximately 100 people were lined up outside Chick-fil-A for a chance to be one of the first customers at the restaurant.

The restaurant will employ approximately 70 to 100 full and part-time employees at the Rideau Centre.

To mark the opening of the new restaurant in Ottawa, Chick-fil-A will donate $34,000 to a local non-profit organization through Second Harvest.

The U.S.-based fast-food chain opened its first Ottawa location at Tanger Outlets last July.

Chick-fil-A will be open for dine-in at the food court and take-out in the Rideau Centre from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Chick-fil-A restaurants are always closed on Sunday. The company says Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on Sundays to "give team members the opportunity to rest, enjoy time with their families and worship if they choose."

Protests were held in Toronto and Windsor to oppose the opening of Chick-fil-A restaurants.

The restaurant chain has been controversial. CEO Dan Cathy said in 2012 that the company supports, "the biblical definition of the family unit." He repeated his stance in a 2018 TV interview but said he is not anti-gay. Critics have also pointed to corporate donations to groups opposed to same-sex marriage.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Ted Raymond