To paraphrase the words of one Facebook commenter, “it’s been a bad week for good chicken.”
Chicken Out, the fried chicken sandwich brand from the minds behind Sugarfire Smoke House and Hi-Pointe Drive-In, has closed its final brick-and-mortar location. The Kirkwood storefront served its last guests on Sunday, February 25. (John Perkins closed Sunday Best, his ode to fried chicken, late last week as well.)
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Ben Hillman, a partner in Chicken Out and Hi-Pointe Drive-In with Mike Johnson, spoke with SLM about the difficult decision to close Chicken Out. “We were fighting a lot of headwinds in the industry as a whole, but specifically with chicken,” Hillman says. “Chicken prices are up dramatically from when we opened [Chicken Out] in 2020, and some things are just out of our control. I’ve spoken with other chicken restaurant operators, and we are all dealing with these same challenges. We know we made mistakes along the way operationally, but we are still super proud of everything we have done.”
The Background
Hillman and Johnson opened the first Chicken Out location in a corner storefront on the east side of the Delmar Loop in June 2020, during a time when the fried chicken sandwich craze was at its peak. Johnson’s desire to create the perfect chicken sandwich predated that boom, though; in fact, he had originally planned to open a chicken concept in the old Del Taco space on McCausland which now houses Hi-Pointe Drive-In, before tabling the idea for burgers.
In 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, with takeout and fast-casual concepts dominating the dining landscape, Johnson and company felt the timing was finally right to take the leap into the chicken sandwich business, opening Chicken Out in the former Piccione Pastry space at the intersection of Delmar and Skinker. The restaurant quickly drew acclaim and a regular following for its beautifully executed sandwiches; Chicken Out’s sandwiches were plump, juicy, well-seasoned, and used higher-end ingredients.
The Challenges
At the same time, the company’s emphasis on quality ingredients led to price-point issues, Hillman says, which the team noticed after opening the Kirkwood location in August 2021. “It takes a lot to invest in quality and consistency, and what we’ve learned is that in order to do that, you have to charge more, but consumers don’t necessarily understand what all goes into that,” Hillman says.
“We are using top-tier ingredients, and people have a hard time paying almost double the price of our biggest competitor,” Hillman adds. “We learned quickly, after opening the drive-thru in Kirkwood, that the second you have a speaker box [in the drive-thru], the majority of consumers care a lot less about quality and customer service and more about price and convenience.”
Still, Hillman notes, the restaurant’s team was not willing to sacrifice quality, in addition to being committed to paying higher wages and providing benefits to employees, factors that also increased the price of the product.
“The price of chicken went up 300 percent from when we opened until now; buns went up 50 percent; health care costs went up 20 percent,” Hillman says. “Those are things we can’t compromise on. We had to stay true to what we care about.”
The Future
Those mourning the loss of Chicken Out have some glimmers of hope, though. The brand is still serving at its stall at the Enterprise Center and at local events, and its signature sandwich remains on the menu at Hi-Pointe Drive-In. Hillman notes that the team will be hosting Chicken Out’s annual Fry’Er fest block party this summer. (Location and details are in the works). He also doesn’t rule out a Chicken Out comeback at some point in the future, so long as the timing and other factors align.
“This may not be the end—the brand is very much still alive,” Hillman says. “Part of the decision was driven by so much good going on in our company, with Hi-Pointe and a new concept we will be adding to the portfolio. We only have so much time and energy and dollars, so we made the tough decision to focus all of those things on the winners, which means more growth for our people, too. The chicken business is hard. It was a difficult decision, but we knew in our hearts it was what we were supposed to do.”
