Auburn, Alabama’s Chicken Salad Chick is going to be rolling out the red carpet for metro-Denver customers for the first time in 2023. Inside Denver city limits, the first beloved Southern comfort franchise will land in Castle Rock (hopefully) by summer 2023, co-franchisee Maureen McFerson told What Now Denver.
“There’s a lot of love for the brand. When you talk about quick service restaurants, something you rarely talk about is the love of that brand,” McFerson said. “When I went through training, working in the restaurant, seeing people come in and recognizing them coming in every day — it blew my mind.”
This loyalty built by Chicken Salad Chick and its founder, Stacy Brown, is just one of many reasons why McFerson is joining forces with her husband, Luke Hadden, to bring six of the Southeastern fast casual franchises to Denver in the next few years.
In addition to customer appreciation, McFerson has experienced the genuine support that Chicken Salad Chick has for its franchisees. This has helped Brown grow a homemade, door-to-door brand in 2007 to a $75 million business in 2022 (per Apple Podcasts) The key ingredient? Authentic, light chicken salad sandwiches served in a welcoming atmosphere.
“The owners are just the nicest people,” McFerson said. “They’re so friendly. It feels like family.”
Earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food science and tech after being raised around agriculture, McFerson’s passions lie in the collision of great food service and food chemistry. After working to develop international food expansion with firms in Singapore, Japan, and Australia, she knew she found a match when these two aspects collided with idyllic company ideals at Chicken Salad Chick.
The new restaurant in Castle Rock will feature the same charm as its sister stores in Southern states: a carpeted interior with a collection of tables and booths under “whimsical decor” — photos of local landmarks, captured by community artists. These local connections are an extension of founder Brown’s story as well as a shout out to the people who helped Chicken Salad Chick grow. Each of the restaurant’s 12 sandwich flavors carry a name integral to its success.
“Order the Cran Kelli, the Classic Carol, and these are real people associated with those flavors. The women connected with this food reflect Stacy’s determination, grit, and warmth,” McFerson said.
Brown was a stay-at-home mom turned entrepreneur who perfected her chicken salad recipe by spreading the love from family to neighbors to teachers and hair stylists to arrive at the best mix (per “Our Story” at Chicken Salad Chick’s website). Door-to-door to orders exploded, which attracted the Lee County Health Department, which subsequently shut down the unlicensed business. Undeterred, along with her husband, Kevin, the Browns responded by creating a carry-out business, which quickly morphed into sit-down restaurants. Kevin, sadly, passed away from cancer before he could see the businesses explode. From this tragedy, another branch of the franchise sprouted — the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation.
“This is another thing that attracted me to the brand — fundraising for cancer research and being a champion of ending childhood hunger,” McFerson said. “That’s important to my career.”
McFerson and Hadden aim to open the first of Chicken Salad Chick’s six Denver restaurants spread across south Denver in summer 2023. The 2,800 square foot restaurant in Castle Rock will include a drive-thru and pickup spaces. The space will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and closed on Sunday, per the philosophy and practice of the franchise. Watch for grand opening dates as lines will likely be long for the celebration and sweepstakes to win free chicken salad for a year.
Wasn’t this supposed to be in Fort Collins earlier in the year?