Arkansas Chicken Chain Feeding on Additional UK Locations
by: Richard Lawson | CoStar News
Chick-fil-A may be leaving England shortly after opening its first store there, but another chicken chain is expanding.
Slim Chickens, based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, announced that its British franchise partner Boparan Restaurant Group plans to open the chain’s sixth location in the United Kingdom in Bristol. It has three other U.K. locations: in London, Birmingham and Cardiff.
Slim Chickens recently kicked off plans to expand to 600 restaurants after receiving funding in July from Atlanta-based 10 Point Capital, the private equity firm behind Tropical Smoothie Café.
The Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A opened a location last month inside The Oracle shopping center in Reading for a six-month trial period. It was met with protests from LGBTQ activists over the company’s donations to organizations viewed as anti-LGBTQ.
The mall owner decided not to extend the chain’s lease beyond the trial period.
Meanwhile, as part of its Slim Chickens franchise agreement, London-based Boparan plans to open five to eight more locations next year, the companies said in their announcement.
Boparan "is exactly the type of experienced multi-concept franchisees that we’re looking for as we expand into new territories, both globally and domestically in the United States,“ Jackie Lobdell, executive director of franchise development at Slim Chickens, said in a statement.
Boparan operates more than 60 restaurants across the United Kingdom. Its other franchise brands include Ed’s Easy Diner, which serves “all-American favourites,” and Giraffe, a chain that features food from around the world.
The chicken chain has close to 100 locations now, mostly in the United States. Slim Chickens tries to distinguish itself from the fast-food chicken chains in the same fashion that Five Guys, which has more than 100 U.K. locations, does: offering a better burger than McDonald’s or Burger King.
“When looking to bring a better-chicken brand across the pond, Slim Chickens was in a league of its own,” Tom Crowley, Boparan’s CEO, said in a statement. “From its high-quality product to the passionate executive team, we knew it was the right fit and would resonate with British diners.”