The Chicken & Rice Guys

What The Chicken & Rice Guys does

The Chicken & Rice Guys (CNRG) is a privately held Boston-area food service company founded in 2012 that operates a multi-format halal Middle Eastern street food business anchored by hand-rubbed, secret-spice chicken served over rice. The company runs a fleet of 5+ food trucks following a published daily schedule across Greater Boston suburbs (Lexington, Cambridge, Waltham, Wilmington, Woburn, Burlington, Longwood, SoWa Market, and others) alongside four brick-and-mortar restaurants in Everett (79 Ferry St), Downtown Crossing (280 Washington St), the Seaport (17 Drydock Ave), and Chinatown (85 Bedford St). Production is centralized at an Everett commissary kitchen that supplies proteins, house-made sauces (chipotle, mint-cilantro-jalapeño, creamy garlic, BBQ, extra hot), and baked goods to all channels.

CNRG generates revenue through five streams: (1) individual plate sales ($10.93 chicken, $12.90 gyro, $11.82 tofu, $12.90 combo) at restaurants and food trucks, (2) takeout and dine-in restaurant service with Square-powered checkout, (3) third-party delivery via UberEats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, (4) corporate and private event catering with $250–$500 minimums, and (5) full food truck rentals for events at $1,800–$2,200 minimums. A branded merchandise shop (hoodies, t-shirts, hats, gift cards, punch cards) and The Chicken & Rice Guys Foundation (a wholly-owned nonprofit for charitable giving) round out the portfolio.

The company has navigated two major shocks — a 2017 E. coli outbreak that triggered an 8-day voluntary shutdown, one restaurant closure, and mass layoffs, and the COVID-19 pandemic that forced up to 95% capacity reductions. The business has rebuilt to four operating restaurants and an active truck schedule but headcount remains below pre-2017 levels. The company is founder-led (CEO Ian So) and operates without disclosed institutional investment.

Name

The Chicken & Rice Guys

Legal name

The Chicken & Rice Guys

Website

https://cnrguys.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Chicken & Rice Guys is a Boston-based halal Middle Eastern street food operator running 5+ food trucks and four brick-and-mortar restaurants across Greater Boston, serving hand-rubbed chicken-and-rice plates alongside catering and event truck rentals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fast Casual Restaurants

NAICS

Mobile Food Services (72233), Special Food Services (7223)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAFAHAA

Food Trucks (Motorized)

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Food Trucks, Street Food & Mobile Vendors

SECONDARYTHAFAHAH

Mobile Specialty Food Vendors (e.g., BBQ, Tacos, Seafood, Ethnic)

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Food Trucks, Street Food & Mobile Vendors

Keywords

• Halal street food
• Food truck catering
• Middle eastern restaurant
• Fast casual dining
• Corporate event catering

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Food truck sales: Mobile food trucks operating daily across Greater Boston locations (corporate campuses, public squares, markets) sell individual plates of chicken, gyro, tofu, rice, and salad items directly to consumers. Trucks follow a published daily schedule and accept pre-order and contactless payment.
2. Restaurant dine-in and takeout: Four brick-and-mortar locations (Everett, 280 Washington St Boston, 17 Drydock Ave Boston, 85 Bedford St Boston) generate revenue from walk-in customers, takeout orders via Square, and delivery via UberEats, DoorDash, and Grubhub.
3. Catering orders: Corporate and event catering orders with minimums of $250 (weekday morning/lunch) and $500 (late afternoon/evening). Food is made to order and delivered. Closed on weekends except Saturdays ($450 minimum). Downtown Boston restaurants accept pick-up catering orders of at least $150.
4. Food truck rentals (private events): The full food truck experience can be booked for private and corporate events for $1,800 minimum (weekday) or $2,200 minimum (weekend), with a 2-hour service window. Event location must be within 45 minutes of the Everett kitchen. Drinks and extras are pre-ordered separately.
5. Merchandise and gift cards: Branded merchandise sold via the online shop includes apparel (hoodies, t-shirts, beanies, hats), a 10x CNR Plate Punch Card ($126), and e-gift cards. Products are made on demand to reduce overproduction.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Chicken & Rice Guys sells halal Middle Eastern street food — primarily hand-rubbed, secret-spice chicken over rice — through a fleet of food trucks operating on published daily schedules across Greater Boston and four brick-and-mortar restaurant locations in Everett and Boston. The company complements these direct retail channels with corporate and private event catering, full food-truck rentals for events, third-party delivery partnerships, and a branded merchandise shop.

Product overview

The Chicken & Rice Guys operates a multi-channel food service business centered on halal Middle Eastern street food. The core offerings consist of a fleet of food trucks and four brick-and-mortar restaurants in the Boston metro area, all serving a unified menu of halal chicken over rice, gyro, and tofu with house-made sauces. The portfolio includes add-on services for corporate/event catering and private food truck rentals, an online ordering system integrated with third-party delivery platforms (UberEats, DoorDash, Grubhub), and a merchandise shop selling branded apparel. A charitable foundation organizes community engagement and donations. The company was founded in 2012 and has navigated significant growth and crises including an E. coli incident in 2017 that led to temporary closure and financial impact.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Chicken & Rice Guys Foundation: Community service foundation focused on charitable giving and community involvement

Products and services

• Food Trucks Mobile food trucks serving halal chicken over rice, gyro, tofu, and other Middle Eastern street food at scheduled locations across the Greater Boston area. The fleet operates on a published weekly schedule at office parks, public squares, and events throughout the metro area, accepting pre-order via Square and contactless payment.
• Brick & Mortar Restaurants Four permanent restaurant locations in the Boston metro area (79 Ferry St Everett, 280 Washington St Boston, 17 Drydock Ave Boston Design Center, and 85 Bedford St Boston) serving the same halal chicken over rice menu as the food trucks with dine-in, takeout, and delivery options.
• Catering Services Corporate and event catering service providing made-to-order meals delivered to offices and events. Offers a catering menu including chopped salads, seasoned rice, halal chicken, gyro, tofu, drinks, pita, baklava, hummus, crispy onions, and house sauces, with weekday and weekend minimums.
• Food Truck Rentals Private booking of a Chicken & Rice Guys food truck for events and corporate functions, featuring the full menu served fresh from the grill by the CNRG team on site. Includes vegetarian and allergy-safe options with weekday and weekend minimums and a 2-hour service window.
• Merchandise Shop Online retail store selling branded merchandise including apparel (hoodies, t-shirts), headwear (hats, beanies), and gift cards/punch cards for restaurant and food truck use. Products are made on demand to reduce overproduction.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4,000+ plates served to Women's Lunch Place guests since December 2013
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Women's Lunch PlaceminorOthers · 1 December 2013CNRG has partnered with Women's Lunch Place since December 2013, donating food to their guests. Over 4,000 plates have been served through this partnership. The relationship is charitable/community-focused rather than commercial.
• Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Blood Donor CenterminorOthersCNRG provides a free plate from their food trucks to blood donors who schedule appointments at the MGH Blood Donor Center. This incentivizes blood donation while generating brand goodwill and new customer exposure.
• Build BostonminorOthersCNRG donates food to Build Boston events, including the Entrepreneurship Olympics, supporting the organization's mission to help low-income students succeed in high school. Food donations at these events raise brand awareness among students and educators.
• Local college student groupsminorOthersCNRG collaborates with student groups from local colleges to raise funds for their activities. Trucks operate near campus locations on designated nights when student events are scheduled, providing food and generating brand awareness among the student demographic.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Halal Guys: The most directly comparable peer—originally a NYC halal cart, now a franchised multi-unit chain. Same halal Middle Eastern street-food concept (chicken and rice over rice with white and hot sauces), and similar food-truck-to-restaurant growth arc.
• Halal Cart: NYC-origin halal street-food operator selling chicken-and-rice platters from carts and trucks. Direct category overlap with CNRG's core offering and similar quick-service, single-menu approach in an urban environment.
• Wow Bao: Asian food brand operating across food trucks, brick-and-mortar, and packaged retail—an analogous multi-channel food-service model. Demonstrates how a single-cuisine street-food brand can scale across channels.
• Cousins Maine Lobster: Food-truck-first lobster brand that expanded into brick-and-mortar restaurants and national franchising—structurally similar to CNRG's food-truck-plus-restaurant model with a regional specialty concept.
• Pincho: Latin-inspired food truck and restaurant brand operating a multi-channel food-service model with catering and event-truck capabilities, similar in scope to CNRG's truck + restaurant + catering offering.

Broad incumbents

• CAVA: Mediterranean fast-casual chain with overlapping cuisine positioning (Mediterranean/Middle Eastern proteins, grains, sauces) and a comparable menu architecture. Larger scale and publicly traded, representing the upper-bound trajectory for a Mediterranean-adjacent concept.
• Bonchon: Ethnic fast-casual chain (Korean fried chicken) with restaurant and food-truck operations in multiple U.S. metros. Comparable specialty-cuisine positioning and multi-format food service model.
• Sweetgreen: Scale-stage fast-casual chain with strong digital and social marketing—a comparable operating model in terms of single-cuisine, urban-professional customer base and reliance on digital channels for demand generation.
• Shake Shack: Originally launched as a hot-dog cart in Madison Square Park—illustrates the food-truck-to-national-brand trajectory. Comparable in its origin as a single-truck, urban, social-media-driven food concept scaling into brick-and-mortar restaurants.
• Tender Greens: Fast-casual chain serving chef-driven, healthy protein-and-grain plates—a comparable menu architecture (protein over rice/grain) and urban lunch-focused customer base to CNRG.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/cnrguys
• Instagraminstagram.com/cnrguys
• Xtwitter.com/cnrguys

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Chicken & Rice Guys