COVID-19 didn’t slow Chicken Salad Chick restaurant growth

Chicken Salad Chick increased system sales and opened new restaurants in 2020, a year in which COVID-19 severely challenged the foodservice industry.

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(Chicken Salad Chick)
(Chicken Salad Chick)

Chicken Salad Chick increased system sales and opened new restaurants in 2020, a year in which COVID-19 severely challenged the foodservice industry.

“We were sitting there in survive mode and then we transitioned to thrive mode,” Scott Deviney, CEO, Chicken Salad Chick, said during Ask the Expert.

“As bad as 2020 was, we came out of it and we ended up growing our system sales by 17% to a new record number of $175 million. We opened up 37 restaurants – 26 of which opened in June through December.”

The fast casual chain had previously planned to open 50 new units each year with an ultimate goal of 500 units by 2030. Chicken Salad Chick currently has 184 restaurant locations in 17 states. 

Concentric growth planned

The brand is poised for further expansion on a state-by-state basis. In particular, Chicken Salad Chick is targeting locations with drive-thrus in female-centered shopping areas.

“It’s all about circle concentric growth,” explained Deviney. 

“We’re in 17 states. What we want to do is to grow state-by-state. The reason that’s important to us is that we don’t have a massive brand awareness like some other brands. Being able to have demand from the state next door – because they’ve heard about it through social media or friends – by the time we open that state, there’s already an organic demand for our business.”

The Chicken Salad Chick menu features more than a dozen flavors of chicken salad, side salads, signature sandwiches, soups and desserts.

“All good brands have a great story and ours is no different. Kevin and Stacy Brown were the founders of the restaurant brand back in 2008. It actually started a little before that when Stacy was selling chicken salad out of her home somewhat by necessity. She was recently divorced, had three kids and wanted a job where she would be home more than away,” Deviney added.

View our continuing coverage of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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