Chicken Salad Chick awards 52 new locations, strongest franchise quarter ever

Chicken Salad Chick’s biggest quarter for franchise sales was also a stress test for the people who will have to open, staff and run those stores. The fast-casual chain awarded 52 new restaurant locations in the first quarter of 2026, nearly 50% more than the 35 deals it signed in the same period a year earlier.

The company said seven new franchise groups joined the system in the quarter, while two existing franchisees expanded through multi-unit agreements. New and expanding territory included Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Upstate New York, a spread that pushes the brand further from its Southern base and raises the operational bar for managers who have to keep the same service and food standards across very different markets.

For restaurant workers, that pace means more than development headlines. Every new location has to recruit cooks, cashiers, shift leads and general managers, then teach them the same prep routines, portion control, hospitality script and opening-day rhythm. A brand can sell 52 stores on paper in a single quarter; it still has to hire and train for each one, and that is where fast growth often runs into the realities of burnout, turnover and inconsistent execution on the line.

Chicken Salad Chick said the quarter was its strongest in franchise development history, building on a record 2025 that included nearly 100 new restaurant agreements and 42 openings across 14 states. The chain now operates more than 330 restaurants in 22 states and says it has more than 300 locations in its development pipeline, a backlog that suggests the growth push is not slowing soon.

The company also used its annual conference in Atlanta, themed Exceed Expectations, to align franchise partners and leadership around strategy, learning sessions and systemwide collaboration. That kind of coordination matters when a brand is trying to scale beyond familiar markets, because each new opening adds pressure on store managers to hold the same standards even when local labor markets are tight and staffing can be thin.

On April 21, Chicken Salad Chick announced a 25-unit franchise agreement in New York, its largest development deal ever. The agreement covers Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and the Upper Hudson Valley, a deal large enough to reshape the brand’s presence in the Northeast if the openings land on schedule and the operators can keep crews intact.

Mark Verges, the company’s vice president of franchise development, pointed to the strength of the model, the quality of franchise partners and demand for a concept built on hospitality, simplicity and strong unit-level economics. Those economics now have to hold up under the weight of rapid expansion, especially in kitchens and dining rooms where the next quarter’s growth will be measured not by deals signed, but by whether new teams can keep up.

Chicken Salad Chick also highlighted outside recognition, including QSR magazine’s Best Franchise Deals for four consecutive years, a No. 3 ranking in Fast Casual’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers and No. 158 in Franchise Times’ Top 400 for 2025. The rankings help the sales pitch, but the harder part begins when all those promised openings turn into schedules, prep lists and first shifts.