The Red Chickz announced that within the first 100 days of 2022, they have signed 18 units and have more than a dozen deals in the pipeline in Houston, Texas, as well as densely-populated areas in California such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach, Fresno, and Orange County.
The Red Chickz will start opening these new locations in the fall of 2022. These expansion plans will further position The Red Chickz as the authority on Nashville Hot Chicken outside of the Music City and a category differentiator by allowing them to continue serving up their West Coast twists on the Southern classic like chicken and French toast and Nashville Hot Chicken tacos to more communities. Having experienced incredible success at their first location in Downtown Los Angeles, The Red Chickz is also expected to expand its presence in its hometown by opening a corporate location in Culver City in early June.
“We could not be happier to expand and share our unique take on Nashville Hot Chicken with more hungry customers in California and Texas,” says Shawn Lalehzarian, Founder of The Red Chickz. “The response to our mouth-watering content on Tik Tok has been overwhelmingly positive, with many users begging us to open locations in their cities, and we are so proud to have found franchise partners who will help us do just that.”
The Red Chickz was founded in 2018 by Shawn Lalehzarian, an Iranian immigrant who learned English by working in many different roles in the restaurant industry. After landing his first senior management position at an international food and beverage company, he realized his dream was to open his own restaurant. Equipped with expert industry knowledge and experience from overseeing food and beverage operations for well-known brands like Wolfgang Puck, Starbucks, Pinkberry, California Pizza Kitchen, and Chili’s, as well as playing a key role in opening 40 different restaurants across North America, he knew exactly what had to be done to make his own business successful.
While exploring what food trends would best fit the Los Angeles community’s changing tastes, Lalehzarian discovered Nashville Hot Chicken, made a trip out there to perfect a recipe, and The Red Chickz was then born. In 2021, Lalehzarian launched the franchise program for the Nashville Hot Chicken brand, showing that Shawn and The Red Chickz are a true example of the American dream.
“When I first came up with the concept for The Red Chickz, I knew I had the tools from working with many national brands to open multiple locations, but the popularity on social media and strong demand for our food helped us realize that we could expand sooner than originally planned,” adds Lalehzarian. “We are so thankful for the love and support we have received so far and we can’t wait to bring our concept to cities across the nation and beyond.”
