CHIK’N will open its first site in London’s Baker Street in mid-July and will open daily from early till late serving breakfasts and an all-day menu.
Early morning menu highlights include a grilled CHIK’N sausage, free range egg and cheese muffin, and hot cakes served with either blueberries and strained yoghurt or chicken tenders, bacon and maple syrup.
The restaurant’s signature chicken sandwich will be made using buttermilk-brined chicken breast served in a potato roll and can be accompanied by fillings such as sriracha sour cream and kimchi flavoured slaw and BBQ mayo and cheese and pink pickled onions.
The restaurant will serve corn and barley-fed free range chickens from Castlemead in Somerset and as CHIK’N grows the company says it will invest in the farm to maintain welfare and sustainable supply. It will also use fryers that consume 40% less oil than traditional fryers, and will convert a proportion of waste to bio-gas by using an in-store converter. The rest of the waste will go to a local biogas farm rather than landfill.
Prices will range from £3.95 for a breakfast muffin and £4.95 for its signature chicken sandwich, with a children’s meal costing £4.95
Owners Clarke and Wolanski believe there is an opportunity for a ‘guilt-free’ fried chicken shop, which is geared towards quality, ethics and sustainability, while being affordable for families. “There is a huge gap in the market for people looking for fast casual fried chicken which is fresher, healthier, tastier and served up by happier people,” says Clarke. “There’s nothing like it on the high street right now.”
“CHIK’N is going to be the chicken shop that every community wants in their neighbourhood. We are changing fried chicken for the good and we are going to be the best restaurant we can possibly be.”
The brand is backed by Active Partners – the investment company that backs Honest Burgers, Leon and Caravan. If successful, two more CHIK’Ns could open in London this year with more expansion in Greater London and cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds possibly on the cards for next year.
The pair currently operates two Chick ’n’ Sours in Haggerston and Covent Garden, and hopes to open a third in London this year.
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