Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | July 28, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Chicken: a hot menu item Five years after the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich craze, chicken-focused restaraunt chains see growth. Visits by consumers at chicken-focused chains are outpacing visits at all fast-casual restaurant chains, according to location data provider Placer.ai. -4% -2% 0 2% 4% 6% 8% Year-over-year change in foot traffic April May June July August September October November Chicken chains All fast-casual chains 2024 Source: Placer.ai business insights Nashville, Seoul Fried chicken recipes from near and far are finding new audiences in today's increasingly global culinary scene. In June, Seoul, South Korea-founded franchise bb.q Chicken opened its first Central Massachusetts location in Shrewsbury, one of 3,500 stores across 57 countries. is followed the April 2024 opening of the first Cluck & Crispy Chicken lo- cation in Worcester, a brand which has since opened a location in Fitchburg in a quest to become a national player in the fried chicken space. Korean-style fried chicken uses a starch-based batter and is generally thinner and crisper than its American counterpart, according to food-focused website Chowhound. Another new style of fried chicken now part of the national culinary scene is Nashville hot chicken, which is smothered in a spicy oil-based sauce. e dish traces its roots back to the 1930s, accord- ing to a 2023 article from CNBC, but has become a national phenomenon, with mentions of Nashville hot chicken on menus increasing 65.7% between 2020 and 2025, according to food service research and consulting firm Tech- nomic. e Dave's Hot Chicken franchise in particular has seen meteoric growth since being founded as a small pop-up in a Los An- geles parking lot in 2017. e brand was acquired by Atlanta-based Roark Capital Group in June for a value of $1 billion. Dave's has attracted investors including rapper Drake, actor Samuel L. Jackson, and former First Lady of California Maria Shriver, according to the Los Angeles Times. "I was approached by Dave's, and obviously with the chicken craze of recent years, I was super interested," Graziano said. "I went to look at it in LA and fell in love with it right away, and realized New England didn't really have anything new and refreshing in that category." Aer opening the first Dave's location on the East Coast in Newton, Graziano opened a Dave's in Framingham in July 2023 and the Worcester location in August 2024. With Worcester, he saw potential in the city's demographics. "I saw a similarity, and even better density, out in Worcester compared to Boston," he said. "It's also a blue-collar town with hard-working people. I think those types of that demographic really do well with quick-service-style restaurants." Another entry in the Nashville hot chicken category of the impromptu Worcester chicken restaurant competi- tion will soon be NU Chicken, a sister restaurant of health-focused NU Kitch- en, which has a location on Chandler Street in Worcester, as well as spots in Somerville and Newburyport. Health(ier) fried chicken While fried chicken isn't exactly a healthy food, NU Chicken is hoping to serve up Nashville hot chicken without a side of regret, said NU Kitchen co-founder Aaron Smith, who founded the concept alongside Van Dyke. e new restaurant plans on frying chicken in avocado oil, aer perfecting the recipe at their Newburyp- ort location. "We would always go and get fried chicken, but we wouldn't always feel great about it aer," Smith said. "So we wanted to create something that wasn't necessarily healthy, but healthier, using real ingredients." e growth of big chick- en chains like Popeyes and Chick-fil-A, rapidly-grow- ing firms like Dave's and bb.q Chicken, as well as mom-and-pop competitors like Cluck & Crispy Chicken and NU Chicken, has longtime fast-food stallworths like Mc- Donald's and KFC in a bit of a pickle, with brands from all sides pecking away at their chicken market share. In 2019, months before the Popeyes sandwich debuted, an independent group of McDonald's franchisees penned a letter to the company's cor- porate office, demanding a better fried chicken sandwich recipe to compete with Chick-fil-A. "Chick-fil-A's results demonstrate the power of chicken," the group wrote, according to CNBC, comparing their call for a better sandwich to President John F. Kennedy's pledge to land on the Moon. McDonald's launched its response, the McCrispy sandwich, in 2021. KFC, once the main fried chicken fast-food option, saw its market share fall to competitors in 2024, according to Restaurant Dive. In June, the company responded with a new ad campaign featuring an angrier-looking version of Colonel Sanders on its packaging to acknowledge customers' recent displea- sure, alongside the phrase, "He ain't smiling until you are." Time will tell if a scowling colonel will bring back customers to KFC. It will also tell if NU Chicken can succeed at 318 Park Ave., a location previously occupied by another chicken-focused spot, B.T.'s Fried Chicken and BBQ, before it closed in February. Despite B.T's closure, NU Chicken's owners are confident the restaurant's straightforward chicken-focused menu will make it a success with both cus- tomers and as a business. "It's the simplicity of the menu that sold us on the whole thing," Smith said. NU Chicken's owners say the simplicity of the menu will be key to the new restaurant's success. Pictured (from left) are co-owners Aaron Smith and Joshua Van Dyke, alongside Director of Operations Douglas Zavala. After starting as a pop-up in a Los Angeles parking lot eight years ago, Dave's Hot Chicken has opened locations across the country, including in Worcester and Framingham. PHOTO | COURTESY OF DAVE'S HOT CHICKEN W PHOTO | ERIC CASEY

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