Chicken Salad Chick is crossing into new territory — literally. The Atlanta-based fast casual chain, which bills itself as the nation's only restaurant concept dedicated exclusively to chicken salad, will open its first Utah unit on June 9 in Pleasant Grove, pushing the brand's presence to 23 states.
The new restaurant sits at 2093 W. Pleasant Grove Blvd in the Valley Grove area, a growing retail corridor that has attracted several emerging fast casual brands in recent years. To drive opening-day traffic, the brand is deploying a proven grand-opening playbook: the first 100 guests in line will receive free chicken salad for a year — a high-visibility incentive that routinely generates lines, local media coverage, and word-of-mouth momentum for franchisees entering unfamiliar markets.
For operators watching franchise expansion patterns, Chicken Salad Chick's move into Utah signals continued confidence in the fast casual segment's ability to sustain growth in Mountain West markets. The region has seen increased competition from both regional and national chains seeking to capture a consumer base that skews toward fresh, protein-forward menu concepts — a positioning Chicken Salad Chick has long leaned into. Franchisees considering daypart strategy in similar markets may find useful context in broader fast casual expansion trends playing out across the country.
The Pleasant Grove opening is part of a broader franchise development push the chain has maintained since its founding in Auburn, Alabama. Growing a single-concept brand to 23 states requires consistent franchisee support infrastructure, real estate discipline, and brand awareness investment in markets where the concept may be entirely new to consumers. The Utah entry underscores how the brand continues to find franchisee interest in states where chicken salad as a center-of-plate fast casual offering remains a largely untested format.
For more context on how emerging chains are navigating multi-state franchise growth and unit economics, Food & Beverage Magazine tracks brand development across the full spectrum of the industry. Operators interested in how grand-opening incentive strategies affect long-term customer retention can also explore recent restaurant marketing and loyalty coverage from our editorial team.
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.
