How an Atlanta chicken salad chain went from niche to mainstream

An Atlanta-based chicken salad chain is taking its niche concept nationwide.

Chicken Salad Chick, which serves up more than a dozen varieties of the lunchtime staple, recently surpassed 350 restaurants in 27 states.

The fast-growing chain has expanded into five new states this year, taking its Southern hospitality to Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia. The company last month also opened its most urban location yet in its hometown, bringing a restaurant to Peachtree Center in downtown Atlanta.

But in a town of heavyweight food and beverage brands from Chick-fil-A to Coca-Cola, Chicken Salad Chick still flies a bit under the radar, said its chief executive.

“We’re like the forgotten restaurant brand,” CEO and President Scott Deviney joked during an interview at the company’s Vinings headquarters.

Deviney has plenty to talk about. A whiteboard on his office wall lists the dozens of restaurants launched this year and the many to come.

At a time when operating costs are high and more consumers are pinched for cash, Chicken Salad Chick is growing faster than many of its peers in the industry, mostly through franchise agreements. And it’s done so by specializing in a food category where aficionados often debate chicken salad recipes and regional rules.

“Ours is really a Southern-style chicken salad: shredded chicken and not too ‘mayonnaisey,’ just the right amount,” Deviney said.

Chicken Salad Chick generated $458 million in total sales in 2025, growing about 15%, while the broader fast-casual segment averaged about 6% sales growth last year, according to Kevin Schimpf, senior director of industry research for Technomic, a market research firm.

Deviney said the brand’s growth reflects its broad appeal. “People are craving something different, freshly made and served with great hospitality,” he said.

Chicken Salad Chick’s menu centers on different flavors of chicken salad with cutesy names like the signature “Classic Carol” and the fruit-and-nut variety “Fancy Nancy.” The chain also serves soups, sides and desserts from Piece of Cake, the Atlanta-based bakery it acquired in 2023.

Schimpf with Technomic said Chicken Salad Chick has opened an average of 30 new restaurants per year over the past decade, with its largest markets being Georgia, Florida and Texas.

That growth is accelerating.

Under the ownership of Los Angeles-based private equity firm Brentwood Associates, Chicken Salad Chick expects to open about 50 new restaurants in 2027, up from roughly 40 this year, Deviney said.

Among its achievements in 2026, the chain signed its largest franchise development agreement yet, landing a 25-restaurant deal to expand across upstate New York.

The company said its total development pipeline could soar to an additional 350 restaurants in coming years, which could double its size.

“We’ve got interest in all 50 states. We’ve got interest internationally,” Deviney said. But he said the company has carefully grown state by state, moving in what he called “concentric circles” as it builds brand awareness.

“I think part of our success has been growing very, very disciplined,” Deviney said.

The original “chick” behind the name is Stacy Brown.

The Rome native originally conceived Chicken Salad Chick in Auburn, Alabama, where she attended college. Newly divorced, the stay-at-home mom was trying to find a way to provide for her three young children, she told NPR in 2018, so she began selling chicken salad door to door.

The local health department would later shut her down for operating out of her home. But she linked up with a family friend, forming a business partnership that would blossom into marriage as the couple opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2008.

Kevin and Stacy Brown quickly expanded with new locations in Alabama and Georgia. Chicken Salad Chick began franchising in 2012.

But Kevin Brown would fall sick with Stage 4 colon cancer. That spurred the inception of the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation, which to this day raises money for Atlanta-based Cure Childhood Cancer and to fight food insecurity.

Around 2015, Deviney, a former banker who had owned dozens of Wendy’s restaurants in metro Atlanta, was looking for a new venture after selling his fast-food business in 2014. He said his friend brought Chicken Salad Chick to his attention as a possible franchise opportunity.

“I was like, ‘Well, let’s just buy the brand. Let’s just buy the company,’” Deviney said, which he did, just months before Kevin Brown died. Deviney took a majority interest in the chain with the backing of Atlanta-based private equity firm Eagle Merchant Partners in 2015.