A three-in-one restaurant specializing in chicken has opened franchising and named Lubbock as one of the cities it wants to expand into.
Urban Bird Hot Chicken’s founders and co-owners, Brandon Gawthorp and Chantel Fiaschetti, have expansion across Texas in mind. Already operating in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, the two have named several cities for expansion, including Lubbock. Here’s what to know about the concept.
What is Urban Bird Hot Chicken?
Gawthorp and Fiaschetti started as Wingstop franchisees in 2002, operating seven stores. They started looking for another franchising concept and tried MidiCi Neapolitan Pizza, by the Menchie’s CEO that launched in 2015. MidiCi flopped, leaving the two with a building lease that was limited in use. In 2018, Gawthorp asked the building owner to switch them to another property, where they opened the new concept: Urban Bird Hot Chicken in 2020.
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In order to make it profitable, they wanted to make sure the food was good. They tested out 60 different recipes for the breaded chicken alone.
“We focused on really good kale slaw that goes inside the chicken sandwich, good bakery bun, like every aspect of the menu, I just wanted it to be better,” Gawthorp said. “As we’re going through it, we fell in love with the concept.”
Urban Bird’s success led them to sell off the Wingstop stores in 2023 to focus on the hot chicken restaurant. It recently opened its 24th location, has four more under construction, and just opened for franchising.
“Ideally, we’re looking for multi-unit operators,” Gawthorp said. “We’re looking for operators that want at least a minimum of three. We could do a one-off if they had experience or are in an area that doesn’t support three, but would be strong for one.”
Gawthorp said they are eyeing any city in Texas, including Lubbock and Corpus Christi, but they want to ensure success with the right franchisees. As former franchisees themselves, Fiaschetti said they use their experience to shape how they will help franchisees.
“Our goal is to be a true partner with our franchisees and provide support,” Fiaschetti said. “We have a lot of knowledge from being a franchisee, so we’re able to incorporate that to provide an operational playbook for our franchisees in training. I feel like just we could provide a true partnership for our future franchisees, because it’s important to us that they’re successful”
Urban Bird Hot Chicken menu
Urban Bird focuses on chicken tenders with various flavors and heat levels, along with smash burgers and loaded fries. Chicken flavors include barbecue and lemon pepper, with limited edition flavors available.
“Our focus is we’re not just in the hot chicken business. We’re in the flavor business, too,” Fiaschetti said. “We have lots of different flavors that attract everyone, because not everybody likes hot chicken, and not everybody likes spicy.”
Gawthorp said the most popular item on the menu is the Urban Fry, which is loaded with mac and cheese, chopped Nashville hot chicken, sauce and pickles.
“We also have chicken and waffles,” Gawthorp said. “A lot of hot chicken places don’t want to mess with waffles, because they’re difficult, but I think it’s amazing.”
An Urban Bird location could also come with virtual concepts, including a smash burger chain named BunSlut and Chronic Fries. People interested in franchising can visit urbanbirdfranchise.com.
Alana Edgin writes about business for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Got a news tip? Contact her via email at aedgin@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Urban Bird Hot Chicken plans expansion to Lubbock
Reporting by Alana Edgin, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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By Alana Edgin, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal | USA TODAY Network
