Jodi Schwan

jschwan@sfbusinessjournal.com

The fast-growing restaurant chain Slim Chickens plans to open on Minnesota Avenue.

The Arkansas-based chain that specializes in chicken strips and wings is being franchised locally by Todd Porter.

It will build a standalone restaurant at 24th Street and Minnesota Avenue on land occupied by older offices.

The tenants have moved out, and demolition could start this week, said Scott Blount of Lloyd Cos., who represented Porter.

“It was strategic location because of its proximity to two universities, Augustana and the University of Sioux Falls, and the two hospitals. Slim Chickens corporate real estate really zeroed in on the location once we presented it and really liked it.”

The restaurant will include a drive-thru and patio seating.

Porter, who also has Applebee’s, Chevys, Johnny Carino’s and PizzaRev franchises in Sioux Falls, heard about Slim Chickens through a contact with Applebee’s and liked what he saw.

“It’s a more limited menu, and they do it really, really well,” he said earlier this summer when announcing the franchise agreement. “They do a lot of volume and have kind of a Chick-fil-A cult-like following. People go nuts over it.”

The hope is to open the first location by the end of the year.

“Minnesota is one of those streets where it’s such an old retail corridor that anytime you can tear down something dilapidated and replace it with something new and fresh it’s an improvement,” Blount said, adding it’s likely the first of multiple locations for the chain.

“We’re viewing the market as more than a one-store market that’s for sure. We think Sioux Falls can accommodate two, potentially three, Slim Chickens locations.”

Fast-growing chicken chain coming to Sioux Falls