Tom Gordon is CEO of Slim Chickens, a fast casual chicken brand with more than 280 units.
In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb, talks to Tom Gordon, CEO of Slim Chickens. The brand launched in 2003, has more than 280 units and is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
"We open about a store a week," Gordon said. "We do 50 to 60 domestic stores every year, and we do international stores every year, too. We do business in the U.K., and 54 of those stores are in the U.K."
The brand recently opened its first store in Berlin as well.
Gordon said the food is the hero at Slim Chickens, and is paramount to the brand's success as it grows.
"The food has to be the thing that draws people in," he said.
Click below to listen to the podcast in its entirety.
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.
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