Chicken salad specialists open third location in Columbia area

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Chicken salad fans have a new place to get their fix in Forest Acres as the third Midlands location of Chicken Salad Chick opened Feb. 27 in Trenholm Plaza.

More than 150 people waited in line outside the new location in Suite 26 at 4840 Forest Drive as the ribbon-cutting took place on the popular Alabama chain’s new location.

Chicken Salad Chick took over the space previously occupied by BLD Diner, which closed in 2023.

It’s the latest eatery to join the popular upscale shopping center along Forest Drive, which is also home to Tazza Kitchen, Original Pancake House, Verde and a Chipotle. CO, an Asian fusion restaurant, is the newest eatery which opened in January in the former location of Rosso, which closed in 2019.

Forest Acres is quickly becoming home to a wide variety of local, regional and nationally-based eateries. City officials said surveys of local residents over the past few years indicated Chicken Salad Chick was one of the most requested chains.

The menu includes a dozen varieties of chicken salad served by the scoop, sandwich or bowl, with flavors ranging from simple to savory and ingredients including fruits, nuts and spices. Offerings also include other salads, signature sandwiches, pimento cheese, sides and soups, and a kids’ menu.

The restaurant chain began in 2008 in the Alabama kitchen of founder Stacy Brown, who in a company history said she had been on the quest to find perfect chicken salad, and then realized that everyone had a different idea of exactly what that was. A stay-at-home mom at the time, she started perfecting her own recipe in her kitchen, relying on family and friends to taste test them before she came up with a recipe that appealed to the most people.

She dropped off samples of her creation around her town and eventually began selling door-to-door as Chicken Salad Chick until the local health department put a stop to it. She and her husband Kevin Brown decided to open a carry-out only chicken salad restaurant, and the chain was born.

The company is now under the leadership of Scott Deviney and has more than 250 locations in 18 states.

Other Midlands locations include 252-7 Harbison Blvd in Irmo and 5135 Sunset Blvd., Suite A, in Lexington. Chicken Salad Chick also can be found in Aiken, Anderson, Bluffton, Charleston, Easley, Greenville, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Rock Hill, Spartanburg and Summerville.