A long-advertised Hawaii debut for the popular mainland fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is now less than a year away.

The Atlanta-based company largely known for its breaded-to-order chicken sandwiches held a blessing ceremony Wednesday on Maui for construction of the first of three or four Hawaii locations slated to open next year.

Wednesday’s ceremony at Pu‘unene Shopping Center in Kahului, where a free-standing restaurant is to be built, was held three years after Chick-fil-A announced its intent to expand to Hawaii.

“We are very excited to serve customers in Hawaii with great food and remarkable service,” Jackie Jags, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement. “The culture, people and customs make Hawaii so special, and we look forward to engaging with and supporting each new restaurant community, starting with our first restaurant in Maui.”

The Maui restaurant is projected to open between April and June. Two or three other locations are expected to open later next year on Oahu at a site in Makiki to be converted from a former Burger King, a spot at Ala Moana Center and possibly one in Kapolei.

Chick-fil-A also is working to establish a restaurant in Kaneohe, but is in an earlier stage of exploration on that effort that is part of a company goal to have at least five restaurants open in the next two years.

The impending arrival of Chick-fil-A in Hawaii would bring the chain into its 48th state along with Washington, D.C., since the company’s founding in 1967.

Chick-fil-A, which has about 2,600 restaurants in the United States and Canada, opened about 150 new restaurants last year but typically takes a couple of years to enter a new market after it decides and announces such a plan.

One reason for this lead time has to do with how the company develops and operates stores. Unlike many franchise restaurant chains, Chick-fil-A picks store locations, handles construction and in most cases selects one franchise operator per store.

A more common model for franchise restaurant chains is to select franchisees who develop multiple stores in certain geographic areas. Chick-fil-A’s model is intended to keep each operator closely involved with individual stores. It also attracts a bigger pool of prospective operators because less up-front investment is required from a franchisee from Chick-fil-A, which charges $10,000 to open a new restaurant.

Chick-fil-A has yet to select local franchise operators for the planned Hawaii stores. The company said it receives over 100,000 applications a year.

Each restaurant should create between 80 and 120 jobs. Upon opening each new restaurant, Chick-fil-A said it will donate $25,000 to hunger relief organization Feeding America, with funds to be distributed to partners in Hawaii.