Just Chicken

What Just Chicken does

Just Chicken is a fast-casual restaurant company founded in 2022 by D'Andre and Mike, two operators with 15 years of prior restaurant ownership experience. The concept is narrowly focused on chicken tenders as the hero product, complemented by sandwiches, loaded fries, salads, sides, and a small portfolio of house-made signature sauces (Just Sauce, Just Ranch, Just Honey Mustard, Just Heat). The brand positions itself against the broader chicken-sandwich and nugget categories via the "#TenderLovers" identity and the tagline "Tenders Are Forever. Nuggets Are For Kids."

Name

Just Chicken

Legal name

Just Chicken

Website

https://justchickencolumbus.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Just Chicken operates a fast-casual, food-hall-based restaurant chain founded in 2022, specializing in chicken tenders, sandwiches, loaded fries, salads, and catering across five US locations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fast Casual Restaurants

akta.pro primary industry

Chicken Concepts (Fried/Grilled/Hot Chicken) (THAFABAI)

Keywords

• Fast casual dining
• Chicken tenders
• Food hall restaurants
• Catering services
• Quick service restaurant

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbus

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Food Sales: Direct sales of chicken tenders, sandwiches, loaded fries, and salads through restaurant locations. One-time transaction model at point of sale.
2. Catering Services: Bulk catering orders for events including tender packs, loaded fries, salads, and extras. Catering menu offers various pack sizes from 25 to 100 tenders.
3. Franchise Fees: Revenue from franchise partnerships where franchisees pay to open Just Chicken locations under the brand.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Just Chicken operates a fast-casual restaurant chain focused on chicken tenders, sandwiches, loaded fries, salads, and sides served from food hall locations. The brand emphasizes house-made sauces prepared from scratch daily and fresh-cut (not frozen) fries. The business also offers catering packages for events and operates a mobile app for online ordering, with franchise expansion underway.

Product overview

Just Chicken is a fast-casual restaurant chain offering chicken tenders and related menu items. The core product portfolio centers on chicken tenders ('Just Tenders Meal'), sandwiches ('Just Chicken Sandwich'), and loaded fries ('Just Loaded Fries'), with additional items including salads, sides, and house-made sauces. The company operates multiple restaurant locations in food halls across Columbus, Charlotte, Indianapolis, and Boise. The product line includes a catering service with scalable tender, fries, and salad packages, and a mobile app for online ordering powered by Toast POS platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Just Tenders Meal Four chicken tenders served with fresh-cut fries, slaw, focaccia ball, and signature 'Just Sauce', targeted at fast-casual diners.
• Just Chicken Sandwich Crispy chicken tenders on a toasted focaccia bun topped with 'Just Sauce' and pickles, sold to individual diners.
• Just Loaded Fries Fresh-cut fries topped with crispy chicken, shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese, and 'Just Sauce', targeted at casual diners.
• Just Salad Spring mix with crispy chicken, shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese, and grape tomatoes, served with a choice of signature sauce.
• Just Kids Two crispy chicken tenders served with fresh-cut fries and 'Just Sauce', designed for children.
• Catering Services Bulk catering packages including 25, 50, 75, or 100 chicken tender packs, shareable loaded fries, salads, and extras ordered for events such as corporate gatherings, weddings, graduations, and parties.
• Just Chicken Mobile App Mobile application powered by Toast for online ordering, rewards program, gift cards, and location-enabled features including restaurant discovery and live map views, available to retail customers.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Toast, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationToast provides the POS system and online ordering platform for Just Chicken locations. The mobile app and online ordering functionality are powered by Toast technology. Just Chicken's privacy policy is associated with their mobile app powered by Toast.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Dave's Hot Chicken: Nashville-style hot chicken fast-casual chain with rapid multi-state franchise expansion; competes for the same chicken-tender-seeking casual dining customer and operates a similar limited-menu, sauce-driven differentiation model.
• PDQ: Fast-casual chicken tenders and sandwich chain with rotating sauces and a focus on fresh, made-to-order preparation; directly comparable to Just Chicken on menu structure, sauce differentiation, and casual dining occasion.
• Huey Magoo's Chicken Tenders: Fast-casual chain whose entire concept is built around chicken tenders, with house-made dipping sauces and a franchise growth model — virtually identical hero-product positioning to Just Chicken.
• Raising Cane's: National fast-casual chain focused exclusively on chicken fingers, similar in concept to Just Chicken with a narrow menu and hero-product positioning. The most directly comparable scaled competitor and the category benchmark Just Chicken must differentiate against.
• Slim Chickens: Fast-casual chicken tenders and wings chain with a multi-state footprint and franchise model — closely mirrors Just Chicken's tender-centric concept, food hall/traditional unit mix, and franchise-driven expansion strategy.

Others

• Wingstop: National chicken-focused fast-casual concept with 2,000+ units; shares the chicken-only QSR identity and sauce-driven differentiation model, though focused on wings rather than tenders — adjacent category competitor for chicken-occasion share.

Broad incumbents

• Bojangles: Chicken-and-biscuits QSR with strong Southeast US presence where Just Chicken also operates (Charlotte); overlaps on chicken-focused menu and family casual dining occasion but with broader daypart offerings.
• Pollo Tropical: Chicken-focused fast-casual chain with grilled and roasted chicken alongside sides; competes in the broader chicken-casual dining space where Just Chicken operates and shares a similar Florida/Southeast regional concentration.
• Chick-fil-A: Largest chicken-focused QSR chain in the US with broad menu including tenders and sandwiches; sets the bar for service, throughput, and brand loyalty that any chicken fast-casual — including Just Chicken — must measure against.
• Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen: National chicken QSR brand with strong sandwich and tenders offering, sharing the chicken-focused fast-casual customer with Just Chicken but operating at vastly greater scale with broader menu breadth.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/eatjustchicken
• Facebookfacebook.com/eatjustchicken
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/just-chicken

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Just Chicken