WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - A new fast-casual restaurant chain will soon bring its chicken and southern flair to Scio Township, right outside of Ann Arbor.
A new location for Slim Chickens is set to open in early January at 5505 Arbor Chase Drive, and will be the brand's first free-standing, full-service Michigan restaurant. The brand currently has a couple of smaller locations that don't feature its full menu on Central Michigan University and Oakland University campuses.
Slim Chickens began in 2003 in Fayetteville, Arkansas and now has more than 250 locations in 34 states, as well as international locations. Its made-to-order menu features chicken sandwiches, tenders, wings, salads, mac and cheese, chicken and waffles and sides like fries, potato salad and fried okra, pickles and mushrooms.
The brand also has jarred desserts for Oreo cheesecake and chocolate browning pudding that are packaged in Mason jars that can be taken home. There are also milkshakes and chocolate chip brownies on the menu.
Brothers Brad and Todd DeLange will be the franchisees operating the new location alongside their other business partner, Doug Broadright. The small group has been together for almost 15 years running other franchise locations in the area for Jimmy John's.
It was around three years ago when they decided to start looking for other franchises to operate. Slim Chickens quickly became their No. 1 choice.
"We started looking at a lot of the concepts ... and every time we kept coming back to this brand and what it stood for," Brad said.
Brad DeLange said the group has committed to opening multiple locations in metro-Detroit over the next 10 to 15 years. The brand's values, quality of food and the experience it gives to customers is what really sealed the deal that Slim Chickens was the right choice, Todd DeLange added.
"We just want to serve our communities, and we could tell that (Slim Chickens does too) the second we stepped in and met the founders in the office and the team," he said. "It really was just a natural fit."
The new Michigan location will be in a roughly 3,000-square-foot newly constructed building. The location will feature a double drive-thru and indoor seating for roughly 65 people as well as outdoor patio seating when the weather warms up. The business is actively hiring and plans to employ 100 people.
Brad describes Slim Chickens as not "your typical fast-food concept." He said the goal is for customers to feel at home when they come in and order, and for the new location to become a part of the Scio Township community.
"We're super excited about being the first (full-service restaurant in Michigan) and at the same time we take it extremely seriously in the fact that we want to be well prepared and well trained ... We want this to be a really good experience."
The brothers are hopeful that opening their first Slim Chickens restaurant outside of Ann Arbor will be a good spot for people to get to know the brand and fall in love with what it has to offer. They said they're ready to pave the way for more locations in the future.
"At the end of the day, we love to love people, whether or not that's our team members or our guests. That's just kind of who we are," Todd said. "We're thrilled and excited to get this one off the ground and running."
Brad said the group is actively pursuing their second and third Michigan locations. However, he said the group is not sharing details just yet.