Chick-fil-A’s restaurant in Gloucester has received two of the Georgia-based company’s highest awards.

Store operator John Gordon said the awards were announced during a recent cruise to the Bahamas for all store operators. The Gloucester unit was picked out of approximately 1,700 stores in the chain for the Operational Excellence Award for 2012.

Also, the local store received "Rookie of the Year" honors by the company for being rated the top store just completing its first entire calendar year of operations. The Gloucester store, located at Fox Mill Center, opened in mid-January 2011, Gordon said, so its first full calendar year was 2012.

"This community has embraced us," he said of the synergy between himself and his 48-member staff headed by general manager Chris Griffith, and customers that flock to the restaurant from throughout the region. Gordon said that his restaurant has both benefited from its regular customers and, in turn, the Chick-fil-A staff has host...