{"id":251400,"date":"2026-04-29T19:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251400\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T19:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:06:08","slug":"chicken-salad-chick-opening-draws-big-crowd-in-cape-coral-hospitality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251400\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken Salad Chick opening draws big crowd in Cape Coral | Hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A line of at least 100 people wrapped around the new building fronting Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, where Chicken Salad Chick has arrived at a new shopping center called Shoppes at Del Sol.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The fast-casual concept opened April 29 with a promotional giveaway: free meals for a year for the first 100 customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Jodee Schoonover of Cape Coral arrived at 7:30 p.m. the previous day and stayed overnight sitting in a foldout chair. As the first customer, she will receive a free meal per week for an entire year. The rest of the top 100 will receive a free meal per month for a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cMy husband told me and talked me into it,\u201d said Schoonover, whose husband owns Shutters239, which installs hurricane shutters. \u201cHe loves Chicken Salad Chick. I\u2019m going to have some of the meals and give them to friends and family, but I\u2019m also going to feed homeless people with some of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Chicken Salad Chick made its Southwest Florida debut in September 2022 off Dani Drive in Fort Myers, where franchise owner and operator Kendal Potesta said she hoped to open at least five more locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Ribbon cutting marks Cape Coral restaurant debut\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full blur\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69f2398bb66b4.image.jpg\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"113\" width=\"200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Community members, staff and officials participate in a ribbon cutting at Chicken Salad Chick\u2019s new location at 1206 Solaris Drive in Cape Coral.<\/p>\n<p>                                    David Dorsey<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Cape Coral location marks Potesta\u2019s fourth, following <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/gulfshorebusiness.com\/tncms\/asset\/editorial\/9e54145b-e7e6-5e6b-889d-35b4fa85358a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Fort Myers,<\/a> Estero and Port Charlotte. It\u2019s the first to arrive in the new center at 1206 Solaris Drive, west of Santa Barbara Boulevard on the north side of Pine Island Road.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d Potesta said of the turnout. \u201cThis day, especially with the city of Cape Coral, it\u2019s been a long time coming. I\u2019m thrilled to death with the outpouring from the community we\u2019ve seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cChicken Salad Chick has expanded in, I believe, seven new states since we opened our first three locations. As a brand, we\u2019re stronger than ever. My outlook on this concept is phenomenal. I\u2019m thrilled to be working with Chicken Salad Chick, and we will be looking to open more locations, even after this one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Up next will either be in the Naples area or a second Fort Myers store, she said. But she wants to get Cape Coral up and running first and focus on finding the right real estate at the right time for her fifth restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cWho knows what\u2019s next?\u201d she said. \u201cWhatever the best spot is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Chicken Salad Chick opens Cape Coral restaurant\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full blur\" width=\"940\" height=\"528\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69d3bcb9dadce.image.jpg\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"112\" width=\"200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Chicken Salad Chick serves a variety of house-made chicken salads, sandwiches, soups and desserts as part of its fourth Southwest Florida location.<\/p>\n<p>                                    Chicken Salad Chick<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Chicken Salad Chick originated in 2008 in Georgia. It makes all of its chicken salad at each site, fresh daily. All the flavors on the menu are based from Classic Carol, the original base. Other flavors include Barbie-Q, Buffalo Barclay, Cranberry Kelli, Dixie Chick, Fancy Nancy, Fruity Fran, Jalapeno Holly, Kickin\u2019 Kay Lynne, Lauryn\u2019s Lemon Basil, Olivia\u2019s Old South, Sassy Scotty and other seasonal flavors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Meal prices are in the $8 to $12 range. The chain does catering and sells family meals. There also are soups, salads and desserts on the menu.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cGeorgia is where it started, but Florida has really embraced us,\u201d said Barry Lennon, a franchise business consultant for the company. Potesta sets herself apart from other franchise operators, Lennon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Crowd gathers for Chicken Salad Chick debut\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full blur\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69f2398baa9e8.image.jpg\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"113\" width=\"200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Customers gather outside Chicken Salad Chick in Cape Coral ahead of its April 29 opening, which featured a free-meals-for-a-year promotion.<\/p>\n<p>                                    David Dorsey<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cIt\u2019s the passion that Kendal has for the brand \u2014 and her enthusiasm,\u201d Lennon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Lennon said the concept appears straightforward on the surface, but the execution tells a different story.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cThe simplicity of our menu and the complexity with what we do in the back of the house,\u201d he said, referring to quality control and ensuring the freshness of the chicken salad. \u201cIt\u2019s simple but complex.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A line of at least 100 people wrapped around the new building fronting Pine Island Road in Cape&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,3045,109844,27447,7586],"class_list":["post-251400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-chicken-salad-chick","tag-franchise-expansion","tag-free-meals","tag-restaurant-opening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}