Fried Chicken Chains That Are Expanding In 2025

Fried chicken is an extremely popular food item in the United States, especially in restaurant chains. There is nothing quite like biting into a crunchy yet juicy piece of fried chicken, whether it be in the form of nuggets, tenders, wings, or a sandwich. From Raising Cane's to Chick-fil-A and Popeyes to Wingstop, various food companies have tapped into the soaring popularity of tasty fried chicken and made it their sole focus.

With so many chains in the game, it feels like these restaurants go through cycles of popularity. Chick-fil-A, for example, started cementing itself as the nation's favorite chicken chain in the 2010s, while recent years have seen Raising Cane's become the talk of the foodie community, with some even ordering large cups of its iconic Cane's sauce. But that's not to say that other fried chicken chains aren't still fairly popular. In fact, several have ambitious plans to grow and expand nationwide in 2025. We've compiled a list of the many franchises that might soon be opening up a location near you.

Slim Chickens is a restaurant chain that was started by high school friends Tom Gordon and Greg Smart. After Smart went to Gordon with a proposition to combine his retail experience with Gordon's restaurant knowledge, the pair started a chicken eatery in their hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Their friends and family were heavily involved in the creation process, providing feedback on food items and sauces, some of which are still on the menu today. The name of the restaurant — which can now be found nationwide — was even a suggestion from Gordon's mom.

The restaurant opened in February 2003, but by the summer of 2019, it had only 84 locations. However, after an investment from 10 Point Capital — the private equity firm that also invested in Smalls Sliders as well as Tropical Smoothie Cafe before its exit in 2020 — the company opened 53 restaurants in 2023 and expected to open more than 70 locations in 2024. Now, it has more than 1,200 on the way.

Slim Chickens plans to open a number of those locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, and Canada. The chicken chain doesn't just have restaurants in North America, either. Slim Chickens has flapped its way overseas with locations in Istanbul's largest airport, Germany, and the U.K. It expects to open even more locations in the latter two countries, as well as throughout the European Union and countries under the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Founder Todd Graves put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into creating Raising Cane's, but we would say this effort has paid off, considering how fast the chain has grown in recent years. Opening its first location on August 28, 1996, in a building at the North Gates of Louisiana State University, the chain has grown to over 800 locations as of February 2025. In 2024, Raising Cane's actually exceeded its goal of 100 new restaurants and opened 118 locations in just a year, with 17 of these opening in December alone.

After achieving that impressive feat, the restaurant chain has decided to maintain momentum and open approximately another 100 restaurants in 2025. Those new restaurants will be open in states where there are already Raising Cane's, as well as in states that don't. It's important to note that that figure does not include the more than 20 restaurants that the chain plans to open in California. Throughout all this expansion, the chain has reportedly managed to curate a positive work environment, receiving praise for employee benefits such as its First-Time Homebuyer Program and tuition assistance.

If you've ever visited a Chick-fil-A, you're probably familiar with its delicious chicken and the polite habit of its workers uttering "my pleasure" to all customers. What you may not know, however, is that this habit originated with Chick-fil-A's founder, S. Truett Cathy, who started encouraging its use after hearing it from a hotel employee. Just as that saying naturally spread throughout the company, Chick-fil-A has gradually spread throughout the U.S. and beyond.

As of March 2025, Chick-fil-A has over 3,000 locations, with the only states not boasting a restaurant being Vermont and Alaska. In 2023, Chick-fil-A had the highest systemwide sales of the leading quick-service chicken restaurant chains in the U.S., bringing in over $21.5 billion. The chicken chain has big plans in the works, and we aren't just talking about Chick-fil-A's new spring 2025 menu. Chick-fil-A is currently focused on expanding overseas. It announced five new locations heading to the U.K. in 2025, with restaurants opening in Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool, and London. The restaurant company also has its sights set on Asia, specifically Singapore, where it will open a location in late 2025.

In addition, Chick-fil-A is increasing its presence in Canada, with eight restaurants opening across Ontario and Alberta in 2025. Two of these restaurants already opened in January. Another aspiration harbored by Chick-fil-A is to open at least 15 locations in Puerto Rico by 2030.

Zaxby's is a fried chicken restaurant that believes in practicing Southern hospitality and going above and beyond in every aspect of its offerings. Like other restaurants, Zaxby's boasts its own house sauce, creatively named Zax Sauce, which tops its signature club sandwich — one which was, unfortunately, dubbed the unhealthiest fast food chicken sandwich.

There were 980 Zaxby's restaurants as of March 2025, with Georgia boasting the most locations – not shocking since it's the restaurant's home state. So far, in 2025, Zaxby's has already opened seven new locations in Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia, and South Carolina. Ground has also been broken on a Zaxby's location in Queen Creek, Arizona, with six more locations planned in the East Valley in the next five years and 10 in the West Valley over the next six years. These additions will eventually bring it to a total of 17 restaurants in the Grand Canyon State. The fried chicken chain has also announced that it will open its first stores in Maryland and New Jersey in 2025 and that it has also signed an agreement for 10 locations in Philadelphia over the next five years.

Popeyes originated in New Orleans and serves Louisiana-style chicken with Cajun and Creole influences to its customers. In April, the chain launched a limited-edition, five-item pickle menu, which may just be the best Popeyes menu ever. Besides the menu, the company is also making changes to its locations nationwide and has a goal to upgrade every U.S. restaurant with features such as cloud-based POS systems, digital drop charts, order-ready boards, kiosks, and upgraded back-of-house equipment by the end of 2026.

The fried chicken chain opened more than 160 new restaurants in the U.S. in 2024 and, as of March 2025, has well over 3,000 locations. Expect this number to grow, with Popeyes claiming that it hopes to reach 4,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada by 2028. It also has ambitious expansion plans in the U.K., where it opened 33 new locations in 2024 and hopes to open 45 more in 2025, including dine-in restaurants, drive-thrus, and delivery kitchens.

Bonchon is unique to the other restaurants on this list as it serves Korean fried chicken wings. The chain was started in Busan, South Korea, in 2002 by Jinduk Seo. Its chicken is hand-battered, double-fried, and hand-brushed with sauces, the recipes for which are formulated by Bonchon's chef in South Korea.

Today, Bonchon has over 470 locations dotted across the globe, with more than 160 in the United States. This number has grown fast, with the 150th location of the restaurant chain in the U.S. having only opened in February 2025 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. This was the first location to open in Arkansas, but certainly not the last. Bonchon plans to open additional locations in Arkansas, as well as Florida and Iowa, in 2025. In addition, the chain expects to open its first-ever airport location, which will be located inside John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.

Dave's Hot Chicken definitely didn't have the most glamorous opening in 2017. In fact, it didn't even have a building, just a parking lot, folding tables, and a portable fryer. It actually operated out of that parking lot for seven months before it was able to open its first restaurant location, but while there, a journalist came to try the chicken, wrote an article praising its quality, and created so much buzz that lines formed around the block. The fried chicken chain has since grown from its humble origins to 283 locations at the end of 2024, with Dave's Hot Chicken also opening in several other countries. 

But it's not done yet. In 2024 alone, Dave's Hot Chicken opened about 80 locations. It's expected to open the same number of restaurants in 2025. One of the restaurants confirmed to open in 2025 is located in Arizona's West Valley in the city of Goodyear. Once these new restaurants are open in 2025, Dave's Hot Chicken plans to add another 700 locations in the following years. Dave's Hot Chicken also inked an agreement to become an official partner of the UFC in the U.S., where it will have featured branding at fights throughout the year.

First launched in southern Louisiana in 1989, Krispy Krunchy Chicken serves Cajun flavor fried chicken that it infuses with its secret marinade. In 2024, Krispy Krunchy Chicken opened 605 restaurants and announced plans to open even more in 2025. Each location offers exactly what you would expect from a chicken restaurant, including chicken nuggets, tenders, wings, sandwiches, and even — for the seafood fans out there — honey butter fried shrimp. Its sides, however, are somewhat unique, with fries that look more like potato wedges, red beans and rice, jambalaya, mac-n-cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, and honey biscuits.

Considering its unit growth over the past year, it's no surprise that the fried chicken chain was named one of the Top 50 Fastest Growing Brands by Yelp for the second year in a row in March 2025. Other restaurant chains on the list included big names such as Jersey Mike's, Culver's, Popeyes, McDonald's, and Dave's Hot Chicken. Currently, the restaurant chain has over 3,200 locations across 47 states, but expect more on the horizon.

Bojangles is a Southern fried chicken chain that has been in business for over 45 years and has around 800 restaurants across 17 states. So far in 2025, it's given its menu several updates, bringing back an old menu item as well as releasing new ones. The returning food item was the Bojangler, a panko-breaded Alaskan pollock flavored with Bo's Famous Seasoning, topped with American Cheese and Duke's Tartar Sauce, and served on a toasted bun. Bojangles also introduced a deluxe version that added lettuce, tomato, pickles, and Bo Sauce, as well as a new limited-time seasonal dessert, the Strawberry Cobbler.

Menu items aren't the only new thing that Bojangles has introduced this year. The restaurant chain started 2025 by opening its first location in Las Vegas on January 20, with plans to open four more before the end of the year. The next day, it opened its first location in Houston, where it also has several more openings planned by September. Bojangles has set its sights on opening even more restaurants by mid-2025, with franchise deals in high-growth areas around Southern California, such as Orange County, Riverside, and San Bernardino.

Interestingly enough, Wingstop doesn't claim to be in the chicken wing business despite the fact that it primarily sells wings, and "wing" is quite literally in the restaurant's name. Instead, the company claims that it wants to serve flavor to the world. It's certainly doing just that. The wing shop originated in Garland, Texas, in 1994 but currently boasts over 2,000 locations and counting across the globe.

In 2024, the wing restaurant opened an impressive 349 locations, which almost equates to a new restaurant opening every day of the year. This increased Wingstop's store count by nearly 16%. The chain's 2024 sales also saw a 36% increase compared to 2023. The restaurant chain expects to increase the number of stores in its lineup by 14% to 15% in 2025, 20 of which will be located in New York. Wingstop is also working towards a long-term goal of operating 10,000 restaurants worldwide, with 6,000 of those stores found in the U.S. alone.

Huey Magoo's was started by southerners Matt Armstrong and Thad Hudgens in 2004. The chicken restaurant serves what it claims to be the best 3% of the bird — the tenderloin and what it describes on its website as "The Filet Mignon of Chicken." It isn't the largest chain, but it's growing fast, having opened its 74th location in Springfield, Missouri, in April.

The chain also has plans to open 42 new franchises in Texas, Arizona, and Virginia. Breaking that number down, Huey Magoo's intends to open 23 restaurants in Texas, 12 in Arizona — the first of which it hopes to open in 2025 – and seven in Virginia. Of the 23 locations in Texas, there will be three restaurants in Laredo, 10 in San Antonio, and 10 in the Rio Grande Valley region. With Huey Magoo's comparing positively to its competitors in our breakdown of its pricing, flavor, and options, this restaurant is definitely worth visiting if its expansion plans cover your area.

Wing Snob is a Detroit-based chicken chain that was founded in 2017 and serves traditional and boneless wings, sandwiches, tenders, and chicken minis in 18 different flavors for customers to choose from. The variety of sauces includes some fairly interesting choices, such as the maple-flavored Chicken and Waffles, the honey mustard and barbecue Awesome Sauce, and the tangy barbecue option known as Snobby Q.

According to co-founders Jack Mashini and Brian Shunia, Wing Snob was created based on the belief that there needed to be more competition in the realm of quick-service chicken wing restaurants. It's amping up the competition in 2025. Despite having been open since 2017, the chain didn't start seeing any real growth until 2023, when it ended the year with 41 locations. To keep that momentum going, Wing Snob announced that it would open over 100 new restaurants by 2025, located in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, and Canada.

Pollo Campero was started in 1971 in Guatemala – where it's expected to open its 150th location in the near future – and opened its first location in the U.S. in 2002. Its fried chicken is hand-breaded and accompanied by sides such as mac and cheese, rice, beans, coleslaw, yuca fries, and sweet plantain, all of which are prepared fresh daily. As a family-owned restaurant, it aims to continue to focus on families as it expands.

Today, Pollo Campero has over 100 locations across 21 states in the U.S., with its 100th location debuting in Florida in April 2024. Beyond the U.S., it has almost 400 locations worldwide, with restaurants spread throughout the likes of El Salvador, Honduras, Spain, Belize, Brazil, and Italy. Pollo Campero is currently working towards increasing its number of locations in the U.S. to 250 by 2028. Expect to see it working towards this goal in 2025, with new locations, such as a drive-thru in San Pablo, California, expected to open by the end of the year.

Golden Chick has actually been around for a while, opening its first location in San Marcos, Texas, in 1967. The company originally opened under the name Golden Fried Chicken and operated under that moniker until 1993, when it changed its name to Golden Chick. On its website, the restaurant states that what makes it so special is its house recipes, marination process, and keen attention to detail, with these attributes ringing true even as Golden Chick continues to expand.

The chain currently boasts over 200 locations across six states, with a majority — 217, to be precise — located in Texas. SXThree Restaurant Group — a Texas-based organization — is already Golden Chick's largest franchisee, operating 20 locations. In 2024, the group announced that it planned to open another 100 locations by 2030, some of which will be located in Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. The chicken chain already opened a new location in Shreveport, Louisiana, in February 2025 and expects to start construction on another restaurant in Scott, Louisiana, at some point during 2025.