Josh PattonChicken Salad Chick plans to open its third Chattanooga location on Aug. 21 inside the Erlanger Medical Mall.
"It's the first time anything like this has been done with Chicken Salad Chick," said Josh Patton, the Chattanooga franchisee for the Auburn, Ala.-based chain that has some 70 locations throughout the Southeast. "There's never been a kiosk location like this."
Chicken Salad Chick will move into the former Starbucks space near the elevators and information desk in the 13-story office tower on Third Street downtown that's connected to Erlanger hospital.
"We'll have a grab-and-go cooler with various items, as well as made-to-order," Patton said. "We're going to do a limited menu. But we will have very diverse offerings."
Chicken Salad Chick was a good fit for the space, he said, because it doesn't use much cooking equipment.
"The only piece of cooking equipment we have is a steamer - no other restaurant can say that," Patton said.
Chicken Salad Chick steams its chicken, shreds it and then adds flavoring, he said.
What's more, it will prepare its chicken at its location downtown at Seventh and Market streets and then transport the chicken salad to its new outlet at Erlanger.
"Since we're really not doing any cooking there, it makes it kind of turn-key for us," said Patton, who also operates the Chicken Salad Chick franchise near the Target store on Gunbarrel Road.
Chicken Salad Chick will be open at Erlanger from 10:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday, Patton said. The chain doesn't open on Sundays, and Patton said the medical mall isn't busy enough on Saturdays to warrant being open then.
"That area's more of an 8 to 5 part of the hospital," he said.
With Chick-fil-A and Subway in the Baroness Bistro, the dining area in Erlanger hospital, and Starbucks located in the medical mall, Chicken Salad Chick will be the fifth eatery available at Erlanger's downtown location.
"Chicken Salad Chick is a great addition when it comes to bringing more options to our associates, patients and their families," said Britt Tabor, chief financial officer at Erlanger Health System. "The menu will make a nice complement to our Baroness Bistro offerings."
The Chicken Salad Chick concept was established in 2008 in the kitchen of founder, Stacy Brown. When Brown discovered that the local county health department wouldn't let her to continue to make and sell her recipes out of her home kitchen, she launched her first restaurant with the business experience of her future husband and fellow founder, Kevin Brown. Together, they opened a small takeout restaurant that soon grew to about 70 restaurants in nine states across the Southeast.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or on Twitter @meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.