These 2 new restaurant chains are expanding to the Beehive State

by · KSL.com

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Chicken Salad Chick and Jeff's Bagel Run are expanding into Utah.
  • Chicken Salad Chick opened its first Utah location in Pleasant Grove this week.
  • Jeff's Bagel Run plans seven locations in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's food scene is set to welcome two new players in Chicken Salad Chick and Jeff's Bagel Run, with each opening stores around the state.

Atlanta-based Chicken Salad Chick opened the doors of its Pleasant Grove location, 2093 W. Pleasant Grove Blvd., this week, marking the franchise's first location in the Beehive State.

Father-son franchisers Michael and Rylan Milles — both Brigham Young University graduates — alongside their sons-in-law and brothers-in-law, Tommy Richardson and Trent Valentine, make up the local ownership group.

The group is also planning to develop six additional Chicken Salad Chick restaurants in Utah County.

"My family and I are so excited to bring the first Chicken Salad Chick restaurant to Utah this summer," Rylan Mills said in a release from the company. "The brand's culture, core values and mission to 'Spread joy, enrich lives, and serve others' immediately resonated with us. Having a strong sense of community is important to Utahns, and establishing a place that brings people together, serves scratch‑made food, and offers a welcoming atmosphere will be essential to our success."

Chicken Salad Chick, as its name suggests, specializes in a dozen-plus variety of chicken salad flavors, sides, soups, signature sandwiches and desserts. The Pleasant Grove location offers dine-in, take-out, third-party delivery and catering options.

"Expanding into Utah and achieving operations in 23 states has been a very meaningful milestone for our team," Scott Deviney, president and CEO of Chicken Salad Chick, said in a statement. "Partnering with new franchise owners like Michael and Rylan, who embody our core values and have a genuine passion for serving their community, makes this news even more exciting. We're thrilled to be growing here and confident our dining experience will resonate with guests across the state."

Additionally, across various pre-opening events in Pleasant Grove, the restaurant raised money for Tabitha's Way, a network of local food pantries serving the communities of Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Highland, Lehi, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and Vineyard.

There will also be new options for foodies north of Utah County, with Jeff's Bagel Run on Thursday announcing the signing of a seven-store area development agreement with Utah-based franchise holding company Rise Harvest.

The company's debut will eventually bring seven restaurants across Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties. The first Utah location is currently under development, with more details to be announced, according to a release from Rise Harvest.

A bagel and spread from Jeff's Bagel Run is pictured. Utah's food scene is set to welcome two new players in Chicken Salad Chick and Jeff's Bagel Run, with each opening stores around the state.Jeff's Bagel Run

"Utah is exactly the kind of market we've been watching; a passionate food community, explosive population growth, and consumers who genuinely care about quality ingredients and real craftsmanship," Jeff Perera, co-founder of Jeff's Bagel Run, said in a statement. "(Rise Harvest founders Jacob Webb and April Miller) bring local roots, and we couldn't be more excited to have them lead our entry into the state."

Jeff's Bagel Run, which is mostly concentrated in the eastern U.S., is known for scratch-made hot bagels, whipped spreads, and craft beverages.

"I believed in this brand from the moment I tried the product. Utah has been waiting for a bagel experience at this level; bagels made from scratch every single day, right here in the shop. Our community is going to love it," Jacob Webb, CEO and co-founder of Rise Harvest, said in a statement.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

Related topics

UtahDavis CountyWeber CountySalt Lake CountyUtah CountyBusiness

Logan Stefanich

Logan Stefanich is a reporter with KSL, covering southern Utah communities, education, business and tech news.