[Chicken Salad Chick opens its second Minnesota restaurant on November 17 in Maple Grove's Fountains at Arbor Lakes shopping center, deepening the Southern-style fast casual chain's footprint in a Midwest market CEO Scott Deviney has publicly flagged as a growth priority. The brand now operates more than 350 units across 27 states.
The Franchise Team
The location is owned and operated by Starting Five LLC, a family franchise group led by Richard, Sheba, Sydney, Nia, and Amir Coffey — Minnesota natives with deep roots in professional basketball. Richard and Amir both played in the NBA, with Amir logging six seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers and stints with the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns. Nia currently plays for the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA, and Sydney played professionally overseas. Beyond athletics, Richard is an Army veteran and nonprofit CEO, while Sheba brings a real estate background to the group's business operations. This Maple Grove unit marks the family's first franchise venture.
"We were initially drawn to Chicken Salad Chick because of the brand's strong community focus, quality product, and growth potential," said Richard Coffey, co-owner of Chicken Salad Chick of Maple Grove. "It aligned perfectly with our family values and desire to start a business that could deliver long-term value for both us and the community we call home."
Grand Opening Incentives
To drive early traffic, Chicken Salad Chick is deploying a weeklong promotional push common in its playbook for new-unit launches. On opening day, the first guest in line at 10 a.m. wins one free large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week for a year; the next 99 guests in line each receive one per month for a year. App download is required to redeem, a mechanic that simultaneously builds the brand's loyalty database at the unit level. Daily promotions through November 21 layer on branded merchandise giveaways — tote bags, tumblers, hip bags, and beanies — for the first 50 guests who purchase a meal with two sides.
For operators tracking fast casual expansion strategies, the app-tied redemption model is worth noting: it converts opening-day foot traffic directly into registered loyalty members, giving franchisees usable customer data from day one.
Community and Giving Back
The Maple Grove team pre-opening events included fundraising for the Nicholas P. Koenig HERO Foundation, which supports families affected by pediatric cancer. That aligns with the broader CSC Foundation mandate, which directs brand-level giving toward CURE Childhood Cancer and local food banks year-round. Deviney pointed to the region's population growth and community orientation as factors making cities like Maple Grove a natural fit — signals that suggest additional Minnesota units are possible if this location performs.
For industry professionals watching fast casual franchise growth in the Midwest, Chicken Salad Chick's Minnesota strategy illustrates how franchise brands are increasingly pairing market expansion with community-embedded operators who bring built-in local credibility. The Coffeys' sports network and nonprofit ties give the Maple Grove unit a grassroots marketing runway that a corporate-operated location would have to build from scratch. The restaurant operates seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., offering dine-in, patio seating, takeout, third-party delivery, and catering.
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.
