Misty McCarty and her mother had been camped outside one Naperville establishment since 9:30 p.m. Monday. What were they after? Chicken Salad.
Dozens line up for new Chicken Salad restaurant.
Chicken Salad Chick opened its newest location in Naperville near Block 59 Tuesday morning.
The first 100 people in line for the grand opening were awarded a free large chicken salad a month for a year. The first person in line, McCarty, who had been there for over 12 hours, scored herself a free one every week for a year.
“It’s exciting. I mean, it wasn’t expected, but we decided that, you know what? We might as well. We have no other plans, so we might as well stick it out, and we did. And now we have full bellies, and…we get a year of free chicken salad,” she said.
A concept based on a classic favorite
The fast-casual restaurant offers more than 12 different flavors of its namesake dish, which can be ordered as scoops or as a sandwich. Guests are able to taste the variety of offerings before making their selection.
“It’s the same kind of concept as chicken wings, where you get different flavors. So we start with our traditional chicken salad, and then we mix it with different flavors,” said Karen White, owner of Chicken Salad Chick in Naperville.
Flavors include cleverly named options like “Jalapeno holly,” “Barbie-Q,” and “Cranberry Kelli.”
White, a longtime Naperville resident and previous owner of a local Dairy Queen, explained that she was eager to bring the restaurant to town after trying the food herself a few years ago.
Bringing something new to Block 59
She said the simplicity of the establishment is what makes it stand out from others.
“It’s a simple operation. We have no fryers. Everything is made fresh every single day. Nothing comes frozen. And it’s healthier than some of the other fried alternatives,” she said. “So even though I am in a spot where there’s tons of restaurants — Block 59 is all made up of restaurants —there’s nothing like us. So, it gives the community a different type of food to enjoy.”
The Naperville location, situated at 2835 Aurora Ave., Ste 113, is the 319th Chicken Salad Chick to open nationwide and the 6th one to launch in Illinois. Another location will be opening in Glen Ellyn on Nov. 18.
The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and closed on Sundays.
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