Chicken Salad Chick is entering the holiday season with a new limited-time chicken salad variety and a returning charitable promotion designed to drive both traffic and community goodwill across its more than 350 fast-casual locations in 27 states.

The New LTO

The seasonal offering, Mary Mistletoe, pairs sweet cranberries with a savory rosemary, sage, and thyme blend — a flavor profile built to evoke traditional holiday meals. Available from now through January 2, 2027, the variety can be ordered as a scoop, sandwich, melt, or Quick Chick, and is also offered through the brand's catering menu, giving franchisees a ready-made upsell for corporate holiday parties and group gatherings. For operators watching fast-casual menu innovation, the move reflects a broader industry pattern of leaning into limited-time flavors tied to the holiday catering calendar to boost check averages and off-premise volume.

"We wanted Mary Mistletoe to capture the warmth and familiar flavors that make the holidays so special," said Scott Deviney, President and CEO of Chicken Salad Chick. "This is our way of adding a little extra holiday cheer to the table and creating another reason for our guests to gather with the people who matter most."

The Giving Card Play

Running concurrently through December 31, 2026, the brand's annual Giving Card promotion returns at a $5 price point. Purchasers unlock more than $75 in monthly rewards redeemable via the Chicken Salad Chick app — a structure that simultaneously drives loyalty enrollment and repeat visits. Proceeds are split between CURE Childhood Cancer and local food banks nationwide. The program has cumulatively raised more than $2 million since its launch, making it a notable example of cause-marketing executed at the franchise-system level. For franchisees, the promotion offers a low-friction way to connect with local communities while pushing guests toward the brand's digital loyalty ecosystem, a priority for many franchise restaurant operators working to reduce reliance on third-party delivery platforms.

Rounding Out the Season

Two holdover seasonal items — Pumpkin Spice Cake and Chicken Poblano Soup — also continue through January 2, 2027, giving operators a full limited-time menu slate to promote across the holiday stretch. The soup, a blend of chicken, poblano peppers, corn, black beans, and lime, adds a hearty, higher-margin item well-suited to colder-weather demand. Together, the LTO lineup gives individual franchise locations multiple entry points for seasonal upsells, catering bookings, and app-driven loyalty redemptions heading into the industry's historically competitive Q4 period.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.