Chicken Salad Chick, the nation’s only fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, continued to bring its gracious hospitality and fresh fare to new markets in 2022 with 24 restaurant openings, including a first-ever Chick for the Chicagoland area. This growth resulted in a 10% increase in unit count year-over-year. The fast-growing brand, which now tops 225 locations in 17 states, also signed 24 franchise agreements with both new and existing franchisees to develop 38 new restaurants over the next several years throughout states like Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.

In addition to this impressive growth, Chicken Salad Chick reported over $306.8 million in systemwide sales, a 20% increase over 2021 and grew to record-setting AUV. The company came out of Covid stonger than ever, with the last eight quarters of positive comps, resulting in positive comps in 24 of the last 28 quarters overall.

“I’m really proud of our teams for their continued focus on the mission and values that deliver a core Chicken Salad Chick experience and keep us on the path to becoming America’s favorite place for chicken salad,” says Scott Deviney, CEO of Chicken Salad Chick. “We plan to open 35 more restaurants this year in key markets across the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest regions. As always, we will stay true to our purpose with smart, disciplined growth that maximizes our operational efficiencies and allows us to serve fresh, made-from-scratch food to communities we genuinely care about.”

Chicken Salad Chick restaurant teams work hard to serve their neighbors and guests, fundraising for local food banks and national nonprofit CURE Childhood Cancer through the brand’s Giving Card promotion each year. Since 2017, the company has raised over $2.5 million through the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation. In 2022 alone, over $515,000 was collected through the annual Giving Card program and the newly introduced Cookies for a Cure promotion. An additional $200,000 was raised through the Foundation across local markets.

Other milestones and successes throughout the past year include:

• Implementation of the back-office food and labor cost management tool increased profitability and operational efficiency across all restaurants. A high number of Chicken Salad Chick restaurants operated at lower food and labor percentages than ever before. This was of critical importance in 2022 in the battle against significant inflation in cost of raw goods and labor wages.

 

• Development of a new toasted sandwich went into a 27-restaurant test. Over 90% of customers responded that they would definitely repurchase on their next visit. Sales for this new product have grown continuously in the test markets, resulting in the brand’s decision to introduce it company wide in 2023.

 

• Expansion westward with the addition of new franchises in New Mexico and breaking ground on the first Colorado location, which is slated to open by April 2023.

 

• Growth of Craving Credits loyalty program to 1.3 million members, which is doubled from 2019.

 

Chicken Salad Chick has franchise availabilities in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, where the brand currently operates, as well as throughout Midwest states such as Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. The company also recently opened Maryland, Delaware, Michigan and Wisconsin for franchise development and is actively seeking individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit who possess high energy and enthusiasm for the brand, marketing skills and the ability to manage a strong team. Restaurant experience is preferred. Interested candidates should have a minimum net worth of $750,000 and liquid assets of at least $250,000. Franchisees can expect the initial investment to be approximately $762,000 – $980,000 with a $50,000 initial franchise fee.