My 88 year old mother-in-law, Natalie, lives in Houston. She's now fully vaccinated and raring to go. When I called her from my home in New Jersey last night, she told me about her latest outing. She had lunch with a friend at a new place. "A chicken salad restaurant!" she told me. I'd never heard of such a thing but after a little research, I realized she could only be talking about Chicken Salad Chick.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Chicken Salad Chick is a fast casual chicken salad restaurant that's growing throughout the south, with multiple franchising opportunities and grand openings galore. According to Franchise Business Review, Chicken Salad Chick is considered an excellent franchising opportunity. Chicken Salad Chick is reporting $175.1 million in systemwide sales, a +17.1% increase over 2019. Even throughout the pandemic, a disastrous time for restaurants, Chicken Salad Chick restaurants continued to grow and adapt with drive thru, take-out, and catering.
CEO Scott Deviney is so proud of what this Southern style restaurant and its franchisees have accomplished. "From feeding thousands of essential workers on the frontline to renting refrigerated trucks and delivering our chicken salad in bulk to local communities - none of our success would be possible without our creative and talented franchise owners, employees and corporate team, as well as our devoted and loyal guests. We are eternally thankful to every single person who supported our local restaurants, and we're looking forward to a successful year ahead."
Chicken Salad Chick believes in spreading joy, enriching lives, and serving others as its business mantra. They donated more than 20,000 free meals to frontline workers in hospitals, police and fire departments, grocery stores, and more throughout 2020.
The restaurant industry is feeling the love too. Chicken Salad Chick was named one of QSR magazine's Best Franchise Deals, Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers & Shakers, and one of Entrepreneur magazine's Top Food Franchises of 2020. With a goal of having 500 locations open and operating by the end of 2025, there will be a Chicken Salad Chick in every town in no time.
Chicken Salad Chick serves creative Southern-style chicken salad made from scratch in house every day. The chicken is steamed, shredded and NEVER frozen. The 12 flavor choices are broken down into four categories: Traditional, Savory, Fruity & Nutty, and Spicy. You can have a signature sandwich made, a simple scoop with crackers and a side salad, soups, and so many other combinations. They even come with a small buttercream flower cookie made fresh daily that's almost as famous as the chicken salad itself.
There's the very southern pimento cheese and egg salad on the menu too. If you're not dining in their cozy and warm seating area, grab some packaged chicken salad from their Quick Chicks refrigerated case.
Chicken Salad Chick's first restaurant was in Auburn, Alabama. The company was founded by the chicken salad obsessed Stacy Brown in 2008. Brown worked out out of her home kitchen until someone called the health department on her unauthorized deliciousness. Stacy didn't get didn't get discouraged and that phone call to the Health Department spurred on the now huge success of Chicken Salad Chick. There are more than 175 restaurants in 17 states and growing!
Despite the catchy cool name, the family feeling is strong here. Aside from the friendly and super clean restaurants, the menu items are named after real people in creator Stacy Brown's life. Whether you order Lauryn's Lemon Basil, Cranberry Kelli, or Kickin' Kay Lynne's chicken salad, you will love the Chicken Salad Chick family more than your own. They're open for lunch and dinner and all the locations are closed on Sunday.
My mother-in-law said she really enjoyed her meal even though she can't quite remember the name of what she ordered. She's 88, so I forgive her. She also said that the service was excellent and that business was hopping! Of course there's sweet tea and plenty of other cold beverages to choose from. The kids menu has mac 'n cheese and PB&J but give them a bowl of the grape salad and they'll be happy to come back whenever you say Chicken Salad Chick time!
Check out their website for the complete menu and additional information at www.chickensaladchick.com. You can also read about all the ladies those menu items are named for.
