Slim Chickens to open in August

Slim Chickens will open for business August 13 in Abner's former location at 518 South Montgomery St.

Franchisee David Bagwell said the casual eatery's menu focuses on chicken featuring chicken tenders, chicken wings and sides including french fries and potato salad. The restaurant also has healthy options including wraps and salads.

"We use always fresh products," Bagwell said. "The chicken comes in fresh and we hand bread it every single time. We really pride ourselves on making sure we use the freshest ingredients, and everything is made fresh to order. When you order, your food isn't pre-cooked sitting around in the back of the kitchen."

Slim Chickens will be open from 10:30 a.m. until 10 p.m., and Bagwell said hours will expand in the future to include late night hours.

Bagwell said the nearly 4,000-squarefoot building can seat 200 people in the dining room and patio, and the business also features a drive through that has been modified to make it more userfriendly for customers.

Bagwell said Slim Chickens will create,between 30 and 50 part-time and fulltime jobs, and 28 jobs have already been filled. Hiring is still ongoing and applications can be filled out online at slim chickens.com/jobs.

Slim Chickens was found 15 years ago in Fayetteville, Arkansas, near the University of Arkansas, and Bagwell said Slim Chickens fits the demographic of Starkville well and the chain performs well in college towns.

"We saw that the college kids had started a petition for a similar restaurant to come to Starkville around the same time we started looking for a location," Bagwell said. "So we found the building and bought it."