Farm Basket has been a Las Vegas fried chicken staple for nearly 45 years. At its peak, the legacy Vegas brand reached a total of about 12 locations across the valley, but eventually it fell on hard times, and these shrank down to a single location on Charleston Boulevard.
But it survived, and in recent years, efforts have been made to stage a comeback for Las Vegas’s favorite chicken spot. Farm Basket was purchased back in 2018, when What Now covered plans to expand to a second location in late 2021. A third store followed. But still, the comeback wasn’t quite working.
“I was so excited to bring back Farm Basket to two of my centers,” said J Dapper, owner of Dapper Companies, who was the landlord for the second and third Farm Basket locations, in a press release. “I grew up eating more Cluckers, Gobblers and orange rolls than you can possibly imagine.”
The problem was that customers reported that some of the flavors weren’t quite what they remembered; they wanted to bring those original, iconic recipes.
“While ownership did the best they could with their resources, customers were vocal about the recipes not tasting the same, or not experiencing the same type of service as years ago,” Dapper went on. “So, I decided to buy it and bring it back to its former glory.”
Dapper is partnering with Nick Della Penna and Trent Jones, owners of Southern Nevada’s Great Greek Grill locations, for the project.
Nick Della Penna told What Now on Tuesday that there has been a veritable outpouring from longtime Farm Basket fans, asking for the return of the old recipes and atmosphere, and for more locations in the area.
“We’re committed to bringing back the Farm Basket of old,” said Della Penna. “So many people come in who used to work here forty years ago. It’s really important to people. They want it to succeed and get back to where it used to be. We’ve got a wildly passionate customer base, and it’s been humbling, and just phenomenal.”
And so, here comes the return of the original-recipe Clucker Sandwich (with fried chicken) and Gobbler Sandwich (with fried turkey), plus those ever popular orange rolls. You can also get them seven days a week, as Farm Basket is now open on Sundays.
Does this mean there are more Farm Basket locations to come? What Now asked.
“Oh, we definitely want to open more,” said Della Penna. “The idea is to get things in order and grow the brand around the valley.”
You can keep up with Farm Basket news by following @farmbasketlv on Instagram.
