ATLANTA - Chick-fil-A has its eye on expanding into urban markets, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The chicken sandwich chain will start adding units in three cities as part of a long-term plan to get a foothold in areas already penetrated by other fast-food chains.

Chick-fil-A officials want to use the initial urban locations as learning tools to how best to design the interiors and kitchen and how to train staff to handle more walk-in customers. The chain also might sharpen its delivery service methods, which is now at around 5 percent of its restaurants.

Last week, the chain opened its 1,500th store in downtown Los Angeles. Currently, the company has less than 24 "in-line" stores, those that are part of an urban block, versus stand-alones or food court counters.

"It??s going to be growing in importance," said Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-A??s senior vice president of marketing. "It??s still a learning frontier for us. We need to learn. The markets that we want to grow in, whether Chicago or D.C. or Southern California, we need to know how to do this."

During the next three months, Chick-fil-A will debut its first three restaurants in the Chicago area and also will be adding to its stores in St. Louis next year. Overall, the company will open 78 new restaurants in 2010. The chain averages around 70 new stores annually, with less than 10 to be in city block locations.