The Red Chickz at Manchester Mall is hosting a grand opening this weekend in Fresno. Photo by Ben Hensley

Manchester Mall in Fresno will welcome the first Nashville-style chicken restaurant south of Shaw Avenue this Saturday with the grand opening of The Red Chickz, a blend of Nashville hot chicken inspired by a homemade recipe from an unlikely source.

Founded in 2018 in Southern California, The Red Chickz got its start before Nashville hot chicken “fired” onto the scene; starting from one independent restaurant, co-owners Nima Christensen and Shawn Lalehzarian sought to bring a unique recipe inspired by Southern fried chicken to their restaurant.

To do this, the duo traveled to Nashville for three weeks, trying out various fried chicken restaurants to hone their recipe.

The final product, however, came from an unlikely source — their Uber driver.

“We ended up at the Uber driver’s parents’ house,” Christensen said. “To this day, the seasoning that we use comes from that recipe.”

Christensen said the recipe, while tracing its roots back to that trip, has evolved over the years into The Red Chickz’s own signature flavor.

The trip and the opening of the restaurant happened just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which, unlike many restaurants that were struggling at the time, ended up benefiting Christensen and his restaurant, thanks to an unlikely source — TikTok.

“As a brand, we’re always looking to expand,” Christensen said. “Brands like ours with one or two stores don’t have the financial means to get on TV and national broadcasts, but then social media came along and gave us that opportunity.”

When the pandemic hit, the restaurant’s marketing team had nearly half a year’s worth of unpublished video and marketing ads which helped drive business during the pandemic.

The marketing technique was a huge success, driving the business forward in what had become a very competitive market.

“When we started, there were three other concepts serving this in LA,” Christensen said. “I think today we have probably over 80 or 90 of them.”

The Red Chickz’s expansion took time; while everyone else opened stores, Christensen and his partners aimed to ensure that the restaurant would be able to translate to any other community, allowing for expansion nationwide after only a few years.

Christensen said the business’ expansion into the Fresno market made sense; with plans to expand into Northern California and Sacramento by the end of the year, as well as several franchised locations on the East Coast in North Carolina and New Jersey, he said that his drive to continue expanding comes from lessons he learned growing up.

“We’re just going to continue working,” Christensen said. “My mom taught me this when I was a kid — ‘Don’t pay attention to other people. Don’t watch what other people are doing. You just do the right thing; you do what you got to do. Just put your head down and work.’”

Christensen, whose mother came to the U.S. and worked three jobs in New York City, said his mother’s influence inspired him to continue doing what he does.

 

Fresno Franchise

Fresno’s Red Chickz location will be operated by father-and-son team Keerat and Paul Riar. The duo, while new to the franchise restaurant business, hopes the business will draw attention in the area.

Keerat, whose father Paul has a history in a variety of business ventures from hospitality to technology, said that he hopes the upcoming addition of housing to nearby Manchester Mall, as well as its location near Highway 41, the nearby Regal Cinema and other businesses will help drive customers to the business.

“We’re huge believers of bringing quality,” Keerat said. “I’m a huge believer in driving for something that’s a little higher quality in terms of food.”

Keerat and Paul both said that the quality of the food is another factor that interested them in franchising a restaurant.

“I’d be willing to bet anything that we have the highest quality control and the highest quality in the terms of Nashville hot chicken in probably all of California.”

In terms of quality, Keerat and Christensen said the restaurant boasts something that many chicken restaurants don’t — non-oily chicken that retains its consistency even after it cools down.

Christensen said that the breading is the start of the experience, observing that there is often oil between the breading and chicken in a lot of fried chicken restaurants; his breading sticks directly to the chicken itself.

“The No. 1 thing for us is quality,” Christensen said. “Our breading is very thin, but extremely crispy.”

 

Building for the Future

Franchise expansion continues to boom for The Red Chickz, with several additional franchise locations looking to be announced in the coming weeks.

And Fresno is not the only restaurant that the Riars hope to operate as well; the duo hopes to open several additional Central Valley locations in the coming years.

“We will be expanding as well,” Paul said. “We’re looking at a few more locations…we will focus on the Valley, from Bakersfield to Stockton area.”

Big picture, Christensen hopes the expansion in the Central Valley and nationwide is not the end; Christensen and his partners have larger, more ambitious goals.

“We definitely want to be nationwide and we definitely want to be global,” he said. “That is the big vision.”

For Fresno, however, the grand opening is just step one for a business that hopes to see itself expand both globally and locally, right here in the Central Valley.

The Red Chickz opens Aug. 10, and will be open daily from 11 a.m. 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.