Chicken salad restaurant concept to open in Bradenton

BRADENTON — A franchise with a focus on chicken salad is making its way to Manatee County. 

In April, a new Chicken Salad Chick location will open in Bradenton. The fast-casual chicken salad restaurant concept has 30 locations in the state with plans to open more, in Wesley Chapel and Estero, later this year. 

The Chicken Salad Chick Bradenton is located at 5434 Lockwood Ridge Road. The grand opening is scheduled for April 5. The first 100 guests that day will receive free chicken salad for a year as part of the celebration that will include several other giveaways throughout the week, according to a statement. 

Karen Jordan, a first-time franchisee of Manasota Chick LLC, is the owner of the new restaurant. 

"As the former director of field training and a franchise business consultant for Golden Corral, I gained a lot of knowledge about the restaurant industry that I knew I could apply to my own business,” Jordan says in the news release. “The pandemic gave me the time and motivation to start making that dream a reality.” 

Jordan first discovered the brand while on vacation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2018. Then, during the pandemic, she lost her job. In a search for opportunities, she took a hard look at franchising with Chicken Salad Chick. 

"While searching for concepts that would best fit me and what I was looking for in a culture, I kept coming back to Chicken Salad Chick,” she says. “Today, I'm thrilled to call myself a Chick owner and can't wait to serve the Bradenton community with our delicious made-from-scratch recipes and welcoming atmosphere."

The new location will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

The brand features more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches, salads and desserts. The concept was originally founded in Auburn, Alabama, by Stacy and Kevin Brown in 2008. Now it’s in 17 states with more than 200 restaurants.

This story was updated to reflect that this is not the first Chicken Salad Chick location to open in Bradenton.