WILTON — Hattie’s Chicken Shack, a quick-serve extension of the Hattie’s brand, has closed its Route 50 location after more than 15 years. The company intends to keep open its seasonal shack at Saratoga Race Course and its two full-service Hattie’s Restaurant locations.
The closure happened Monday, according to an emailed announcement from the company.
The announcement did not give a reason for the closure. A Hattie’s representative was unavailable for an interview. The Wilton location, at 3057 Route 50, opened in November 2010.
The Hattie’s company was purchased in 2021 from owners Beth and Jasper Alexander by Ed and Lisa Mitzen, Saratoga-based philanthropists who started the Business for Good Foundation six years ago. They also later established an umbrella company called Good for Biz that has stewardship over for-profit food businesses bought by the Mitzens: the Hattie’s brand, Bread Basket Bakery and Bread Basket Cake Shop in Saratoga and, in Ed Mitzen’s hometown of Voorheesville, Blackbirds Tavern and Blackbirds Bike Cafe. The tavern is operated under contract by Druthers Brewing Company.
As part of the foundation’s central mission to build community and create positive social change, Good for Biz puts profits from its stable of food operations back into communities by donating to the foundation and independently. Jasper Alexander is the culinary director of Good for Biz as well as of Hattie’s; Beth Alexander is the Good for Biz director of hospitality and oversees its Madison & Pearl Catering.
Hattie’s expanded to Albany with the opening in early 2024 of Hattie’s Restaurant in the former Lombardo’s Restaurant, at 121 Madison Ave., after a nearly three-year development and construction period that Ed Mitzen has previously said cost more than $3 million. It struggled to draw patrons, and the company expressed dismay at the challenges of its chosen neighborhood. It closed in June of last year after only 15 months, reopening in October after a transformation into Hattie’s Culinary Lab Powered by SEAT Center, which offers dinner two nights and lunch on one day, with culinary students as staff.