[Baltimore Sun] Bits & Bites: Why are there so many fried chicken chains opening up around Baltimore?
Read Time:4 Minute, 55 Second
Fried chicken has always been a fast food staple — but lately, it seems to be more popular than ever.
A food reporter need only consult her email inbox to find the anecdotal evidence. Media alerts about chicken abound: Dave’s Hot Chicken, which counts Drake as an investor, opened a new store in Columbia last week. Chick-fil-A debuted yet another Baltimore-area restaurant, on Joppa Road in Towson, on Tuesday. And in Ellicott City, hot chicken chain Hangry Joe’s just opened a franchise in St. John’s Plaza, off Route 40.
Even McDonald’s wants in on the action. The burger juggernaut unveiled a limited-edition Chicken Big Mac earlier this month, swapping in two fried chicken patties for beef.
What’s behind the chicken mania? I investigate in this week’s column, which also takes a look at a Hampden restaurant’s reinvention and the return of Charles Street businesses closed by fire.
‘A natural fit’
A Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich has always been the best- or second-best-selling menu item at the Canton sandwich shop RegionAle. So when owner Kevin Curley was looking for ways to bolster his business in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, turning to chicken just made sense.
“It was a natural fit,” said Curley, who launched a spinoff concept, Ginger’s Hot Chicken, as a delivery-only ghost kitchen in 2020.
Curley may have been on the local vanguard of the recent chicken boom — and is still one of the only hot chicken vendors within city limits, even as competitors are closing in in the surrounding suburbs. Today, the spicy chicken sandwiches coated in hot sauce and cayenne make up “a significant portion” of his business’ total sales and diners can order them from the counter at RegionAle as well as on third-party delivery apps.
Globally, sales figures reflect what Curley has seen: chicken is hot. You can now find fried chicken at gas stations, convenience stores and burger joints, and the worldwide take-out fried chicken market is projected to reach $9.85 billion by 2030, according to Market Research Future, a New York-based research firm.
Some 84% of consumers around the world said they ordered chicken from a restaurant at least once a month, according to a 2021 report by Technomic, a food-and-beverage-focused research firm, which also found that the U.S. and South Korea are the biggest exporters of chicken chains.
Though supply chain snags and bird flu outbreaks have previously pushed up the cost of poultry, Curley said the margins on chicken are more favorable than on some other sources of protein. Fried chicken travels relatively well, a plus for the growing number of diners who are ordering takeout and delivery meals. And because so many people are familiar with chicken as a comfort food, they may be more willing to try a twist on a classic taste, with options like Nashville hot chicken and spicy-sweet Korean fried chicken.
“It’s kind of this regional dish that has absolutely exploded,” Curley said of the hot chicken he serves at Ginger’s.
He’s just hoping the popularity endures: “Hopefully it’s not just the next frozen yogurt.”
Cosima’s street food pivot
In Hampden, another restaurant owner is looking to tap into dining trends in a bid to broaden her audience.
Cosima, a Sicilian restaurant tucked away by the Jones Falls in Hampden, has developed a reputation over its nine years in business as a finer dining spot, with entrees in the $30 to $40 range. A menu overhaul this month looks to lower prices to lure in new diners.
Owner Judith Golding said she decided to “do something fresh” to try to boost sales at Cosima, where the menu has always changed seasonally. This time, however, the change is more of an overhaul, with a new focus on small plates and pizza and pasta dishes.
New offerings include a section of street food like arancini, fried polenta sticks, shrimp in tomato sauce and a mini mug of fried olives. Pizzas range in price from $18 to $22 and pastas range from $14, for a baked gnocchi in parmesan cream sauce, to $34 for penne al pistachio.
An expanded happy hour, with $5 spritzes and negronis, $5 beers and $7 glasses of wine, will start at 4 p.m. and last until 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
“For us, it’s a change in orientation,” Golding said. “We don’t want to go anywhere. We’re very committed to this place, the area, the cuisine.”
“We’ve slid off some people’s radar and we want to slide back on.”
Mick O’Shea’s reopens after fire
More than three weeks after an underground electrical fire shut its doors, Mick O’Shea’s is back.
The genial Irish pub at 328 N. Charles St. took down a cease-and-desist notice reopened Oct. 23 “after weeks of uncertainty and repairs,” per a post on its Facebook page. Also removed from the door was a note expressing frustration with city leaders for the fire, the third of its kind in the past year. “Closed,” the note read, “really due to the fact that the powers that be failed to maintain the infrastructure. Not our fault.”
Baltimore officials said earlier this month that they are probing the cause of the fires.
Some of the pub’s neighbors, meanwhile, have had to set up a temporary space while extensive damages to their storefronts are repaired.
Stem & Vine, a plant and wine shop, and bookstore Viva Books are operating out of 800 N. Charles St. for now. The businesses have planned a fundraiser Nov. 10 at Harborplace to support their reopening.
Have a news tip? Contact reporter Amanda Yeager at ayeager@baltsun.com, 443-790-1738 or @amandacyeager on X.
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