Fast casual chain Chicken Salad Chick launched four fall limited-time offerings on August 31, headlined by Nashville Hottie — its spiciest chicken salad to date — and a new Pumpkin Spice Cake, while simultaneously kicking off its fifth consecutive Cookies for a CURE fundraising campaign benefiting CURE Childhood Cancer.
The New Menu Items
Nashville Hottie channels the bold profile of Nashville hot chicken, blending fiery heat with tangy dill pickle pieces. Operators at the brand's 345-plus locations across 25 states can serve it as a scoop, sandwich, melt, or Quick Chick, and the flavor is also available for catering orders — an important revenue channel for fast casual concepts looking to drive off-premise volume. The launch pairs naturally with the returning Chicken Poblano Soup, a creamy blend of diced chicken, poblano peppers, corn, black beans, and lime that will be served daily throughout fall.
On the sweet side, the Pumpkin Spice Cake marks the brand's third cake format, following White Chocolate and Red Velvet launches. The triple-layer cake is finished with cream cheese frosting and is available by the slice in-restaurant and online, with whole-cake catering orders also an option. For fast casual operators tracking seasonal dessert trends, bundling a shareable format like a whole cake into catering packages represents a margin-friendly upsell opportunity.
Fundraising Milestone
The returning Lemon Burst Buttercream Cookie drives the annual Cookies for a CURE campaign throughout Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September. A portion of proceeds from each cookie sold benefits CURE Childhood Cancer, an Atlanta-based nonprofit funding pediatric cancer research and family support programs. The Chicken Salad Chick Foundation has donated more than $2 million to charitable causes since 2017. At the brand's owner conference in March, it presented CURE Childhood Cancer with a record donation of $382,604.30 — funds raised through the 2025 campaign and a year-end Giving Card program — surpassing the prior year's total by more than $50,000.
"Our guests tell us what they want, and lately that's bold, on-trend flavors they can only find here," said Scott Deviney, President and CEO of Chicken Salad Chick. "Nashville Hottie and the Pumpkin Spice Cake are a fun take on fall, whether you're craving something spicy, sweet or a little bit of both."
Loyalty & Operator Implications
The fall rollout also includes Double Points Days for rewards members on September 8 and October 7, an increasingly standard tactic among fast casual brands using loyalty mechanics to drive traffic during shoulder periods. For franchise operators, the combination of a high-interest LTO, a catering-eligible new flavor, and a cause-marketing campaign with five years of established consumer recognition offers multiple levers to grow average check and community visibility simultaneously.
The Nashville hot trend has shown staying power well beyond its origins in QSR poultry, migrating into sandwich and specialty protein categories at regional and national chains alike. Chicken Salad Chick's interpretation — applied to a chilled, made-from-scratch format — illustrates how even heritage fast casual concepts are adapting heat-forward flavor profiles to their core product without abandoning brand identity.
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.
