On Wednesday, Dec 14, Guthrie’s Fried Chicken announced it had inked a franchise agreement with Georgia-based developers Stephen Galbraith and Matt Dahlhauser for upwards of 100 new stores throughout the western US. According to Galbraith, some of those locations will be in the greater Phoenix region.
“We’ve done a couple light studies on the whole market in general, and where we want to go, and we will probably be tackling that market late summer next year,” Galbraith tells What Now Phoenix, adding, “based off traditional timeframes to get projects contracted, permitted, and built, it would probably be an end of 2024, beginning of 2025 first store opening.”
Initially, the developers, under their Dahlhauser Galbraith Operating Companies brand, will target Las Vegas, Reno, and Boise.
In an interview with What Now Las Vegas, Galbraith said that while no leases have been signed as of yet, Dahlhauser Galbraith Operating Companies “hopes to have at least a handful open within 18 months,” adding, “We’re excited about it. We’ve got a great product. We love it down here and we think the population in Las Vegas is going to love it as well.”
With such a large swath of the country at their fingertips, Dahlhauser said in a statement, “Guthrie’s is exactly the kind of brand that succeeds in the American West thanks to a pioneering and adventurous spirit but grounded in mouthwatering tradition.”
Regarded as the “pioneers of the fried chicken finger-only restaurant,” the first Guthrie’s opened in Auburn, Alabama in 1982 – with earlier iterations from founder Hal Guthrie dating back to 1965 – and “laid the foundation for a new market in the chicken segment of the restaurant industry,” according to the company’s website.
Today, the brand operates more than 40 locations across six states, where it offers up a simple but reliable menu of chicken fingers served in five different forms – as a box with fries, cole slaw, Texas toast, and Guthrie’s signature sauce; as a sandwich, a bucket; snack box; or family meal.
