Winner winner, chicken dinner

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/12/2018 (2658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, sums up locally owned restaurant chain Chicken Chef and why it’s celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

So, when at the Chicken Chef in Winkler, you can order Mennonite dishes such as farmer sausage and schmaunt fat; pickerel specials in season at its Gimli restaurant; daily specials such as bannock burgers and wild rice in Pine Falls; and off-menu desserts and lunch specials in the St. Boniface franchise on Marion Street.

While most chain restaurants treat their menus like scripture and will pull your franchise if you so much as add a new soft drink, customizing is encouraged at Chicken Chef.

“We’re looking to make (off-menu dishes) even more prominent in the future because I do think that’s one of the things that sets us apart from everyone else,” co-owner Ryan Thorgilsson said.

Chicken Chef has always fought against the perception that it is just another fried-chicken joint.

The restaurant started in 1978 when Ryan’s dad, Fred Thorgilsson, who is originally from Arborg, left Chicken Delight and opened the first Chicken Chef in Carman with business partner Ed Purvis.

They didn’t start off with the idea of opening franchises across the province. But people from other small towns approached them and one by one, Chicken Chefs started to sprout up. It moved into many small towns the big chains would only sniff at.

“It’s sort of what we’re known for,” said Ryan, 41, who along with Jeff Epp purchased the company from his father and older brother about five years ago. “We’re in towns of sometimes a thousand people,” he said.

That would include places such as Ste. Rose du Lac, with 1,026 people, according to the 2016 Canada Census; Teulon (1,201 people); Ashern (565); and Dugald (560).

The owners also understood the tight margins rural entrepreneurs often operate under. So, their franchise royalty fee is just three per cent of net sales. That compares to royalties of five to eight per cent at most other chains.

When you combine royalty fees and advertising budgets of the bigger chains, other franchise owners can end up paying eight to 13 per cent on net sales, Thorgilsson said. “Our royalties are among the lowest you’ll find anywhere,” he said.

Thorgilsson doesn’t dress up as a southern gentleman in snow-white beard and moustache and suit, or wear a chicken costume to make home deliveries. In fact, Chicken Chef’s advertising budget is comparatively small, but has been increasing.

Chicken Chef now has 36 restaurants, including three in Saskatchewan and one in Sioux Lookout, Ont.

It has been slow to move into the Winnipeg market, however. It opened its first restaurant on Marion Street in 1989, then on Portage Avenue near the Perimeter Highway in 1992-93 and on Nairn Avenue in about 2004-05.

The new owners have increased its Winnipeg presence the past five years, with a new location on North Main and a mostly take-out store at 570 Portage Ave. (Take-out business has risen and now accounts for 50 per cent of its business, Thorgilsson said.) A 37th restaurant, and the sixth in Winnipeg, is set to open next spring in Island Shore in South Winnipeg.

“We started in rural and moved our way into the city, so we moved backwards compared to most franchises,” Thorgilsson said.

The Winnipeg market isn’t getting any easier. Major international chains such as Popeyes, Jollibee and Mary Brown’s Chicken have all entered Winnipeg in recent years.

“But we have our niche market and so far, we haven’t been affected by the competition coming in,” Thorgilsson said.

Many Winnipeggers think Chicken Chef just serves fried chicken when it is actually a full-service restaurant, Thorgilsson said. “We’ve been doing this for 40 years and people are still floored we have pizza,” he said.

In addition to pressure-fried chicken (designed to prevent the meat from drying out), it also offers pizza, hamburgers, a full breakfast menu, its own coffee brew, a selection of salads and snacks such as quesadillas, perogies and chicken poutine.

Neither do customers go to the front and make an order off a signboard. There are menu books, and waitresses take your order. Chicken Chef uses china dishware and actual cutlery instead of paper plates or cardboard boxes and plastic forks.

Plus, menus will start to show more local fare from individual restaurants in the months ahead, Thorgilsson said.

As well, Chicken Chef started licensing its restaurants about five years ago. Its store on Nairn and the new one in Island Shore, as well as locations in Lac du Bonnet, Steinbach and Gimli are now licensed and serve beer, wine and coolers. Lac du Bonnet has a full lounge and Pine Falls is in the process of adding a lounge.

Neither do all Chicken Chefs have the same decor. The company leaves that up to the franchisee. It doesn’t want to stifle entrepreneur creativity with rigid uniformity.

“We want you to have a good experience, but not necessarily a cookie-cutter one,” Thorgilsson said.

The owners still see more opportunity to expand in Winnipeg and other parts of the province such as Dauphin, Selkirk and Beausejour. They also see an opportunity to possibly add 30 to 40 franchises in Saskatchewan.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca