CHKN CHOP
CHKN CHOP
Q&A WITH CHKN CHOP OWNER JENNA MOOERS
BY LAURA OAKLEY
PHOTOS MICHELLE DOUCETTE
When CHKN CHOP opened in October 2017, the concept differed from Jenna Mooers’ other restaurant, EDNA. The higher-end farm-to-table dinner and brunch destination was eco-trendy and sleek. In contrast, CHKN CHOP aimed to serve in a fast-casual, counter-service style and focus on rotisserie chicken and sides—and offer minimal seats for dine-in. The clientele was meant to be, and is now, a lot of families.
Now having sold EDNA, Mooers recalls the evolution of CHKN CHOP over the past five years, highlighting the changes and challenges. She unequivocally credits the success of her humble chicken operation to the hard-working and unflappable team, many of whom have been with her for the full five years. Now in a position to finally start thinking about the future of the restaurant in a pre-2020 way, Mooers has her eyes on the path moving forward. She recently bought, with a partner, North End gem Dee Dee’s ice cream.
With ideas in the bank and two of the most fun businesses in Halifax at her disposal, I asked Mooers about CHKN CHOP (once again) placing in the Curated Magazine 50 Best Places to Eat list and the question she gets over and over again—why not more CHKN CHOPs?
Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
1/4 CHKN with Corn, Green Beans, Coleslaw, Fries, Gravy, Mac n' Cheez
Curated Magazine (CM): How has CHKN CHOP changed or stayed the same over the past five years?
Jenna Mooers (JM): I feel that we’ve had two big events that have caused us to change what we do—allowing us the opportunity to change. In a lot of ways, the restaurant has stayed the same, or our focus has stayed the same. We’re serving rotisserie chicken, sandwiches and sides.
We did have a fire in February 2019—and the restaurant was a full tear-out. So we started from scratch. This gave us a really neat opportunity, as hard as it was. The whole process of having the fire and fighting with insurance companies for eight months did give us an opportunity to redesign the restaurant and systems.
And then, of course, covid. Which gave us another opportunity to redesign how we do things again and again and again.
CM: What changes did you make after the fire?
JM: A lot of the layout of the kitchen [changed], and we were able to make some changes to the menu that we wanted to do and the way that we do service. In general, our offering has stayed pretty constant. We also have a lot of the same staff since day one. Quite a few of our staff have been with us for the full five years.
Margarita Slushie
CM: Why do you think the concept has been so successful?
JM: I think it’s just really approachable food. People like chicken. It’s really appealing to a wide market—from kids to elderly people. It’s just a really casual place. I like to talk about our clientele as families who come for dinner after swimming lessons.
CM: Did you feel lucky that this food worked so well for takeout during covid?
JM: Absolutely. We were very lucky in that sense, in that our model was very adaptable to takeout. It was a really crazy time for everybody, but it was really inspiring to see all the different ideas that all the different restaurants came up with. How they created their offering.
We did have to reinvent again and again through the pandemic, but we were pretty lucky. We were already doing about 50% takeout business pre-covid. We have a tiny dining room—we have 20 seats in here.
Fried CHKN Sandwich
CM: Why do you think the sandwich features are so popular?
JM: I guess people just really like fried chicken sandwiches. It’s a fun thing. We never expected to sell that much fried chicken. Our original concept was rotisserie. We’ve had to rearrange our kitchen and double the fryer capacity.
To be honest, it wasn’t—in 2017, when we started doing the fried chicken sandwiches—a concept that we came up with where we wanted to do a different one every week. We just started doing a special here and there, and then people started demanding a special every week. We just gave the people what they wanted! It really became this thing. Now it’s part of what we do.
CM: Does the team love creating fried chicken sandwiches?
JM: It’s become a really fun thing for the team because our menu, in general, is pretty constant. We do have some seasonal sides and some sandwiches that we switch out now and then, but generally, the menu is constant. The sandwich is a nice creative outlet for the team. We get everybody involved, and we probably have a set 12 in our repertoire that are favourites that we run through, and then every once in a while, someone will come up with a crazy idea, and we’ll say, “yeah, let’s do it.”
Jenna Mooers
CM: You probably get asked this question all the time… so why not more CHKN CHOPs?
JM: It sounds like a lot of work. Part of getting that big scares me a little bit. I like to work in my businesses. I like to have connections with my entire team. Once teams get too big, you don’t get that opportunity to really connect with your people. And that’s what I enjoy most about running restaurants, is working in them and working with the people. Once you get bigger than that, you lose some of that. Then you’re working in an office.
CM: Any collaborations coming up with Dee Dee’s Ice Cream?
JM: We’ve toyed with the idea of an ice cream sandwich with our cookies. We are already doing a little collab where all the chicken in the burritos at Dee Dee’s now comes from CHKN CHOP. We’ve definitely got some ice cream sandwiches in the future.
CM: I mean, fried chicken and ice cream, right?
JM: I think about that sometimes and about how that’s my life now: chicken and ice cream. And I smile. It’s really fun stuff to work with. It’s stuff you get to have fun with, and you don’t take yourself too seriously.
CM: What are the future plans?
JM: Covid was such an interesting time. There really wasn’t a time when we were encouraged to think about the future or to plan for the future. It was sort of buckle down, stay small, and do what you can to survive. As we’re coming out of this, I’m starting to stick my head out of the sand and wonder what’s next—nothing in the immediate future. We’re just running along with a wonderful team.
I attribute a lot of our ability to cope through covid and continually adapt to the amazing ability of our team to just take it with stride. [The team] coming into work each day and not knowing what their work is going to be. Working with a really awesome group of individuals through that time is what made us survive.
CHKN CHOP serves consistently delicious rotisserie chicken and highly sought-after feature fried chicken sandwiches each week, Tuesday through Saturday. Find them at the corner of North and King Streets—but check their website for current hours before you go to avoid soul-crushing disappointment.
