Missouri-born Chick-in Waffle opened its first restaurant outside its Kansas City homebase in a former midtown Tucson Burger King on Friday, May 19.
A second Arizona location is expected to open in Mesa in June, and a downtown Phoenix location is expected later this summer.
Oro Valley businessman Sunny Patel and several family members are the franchise operators for the Tucson and Mesa Chick-in Waffle locations. Patel also operates outposts of Taco Plus Mexican Grub on East Speedway and North Stone Avenue, as well as two locations of the Texas-based chain Tikka Shack Indian Grub in Phoenix.
Chick-in Waffle, 5524 E. Grant Road, is the first chicken and waffles restaurant in Tucson since May’s Counter Chicken & Waffles on East Speedway closed in 2018. Several Tucson restaurants, including The Drunken Chicken on North Fourth Ave., serve chicken and waffles, but none of them focuses on it exclusively.
Chick-in Waffle serves bone-in and boneless chicken wings and tenders in 10 varieties, from Nashville hot to Asian chile, buffalo style and maple, paired with a bubble waffle or waffle cone (yes, the same kind of waffle cone used for ice cream).
They also serve eight versions of chicken sandwiches and 10 variations of loaded fries, including poutine topped with chicken strips.
“I think people in this community will absolutely love it,” Patel said Friday as he and Chick-in Waffle founders Dennis Alazzeh and Sara Azraq worked with Patel and his staff at the Tucson restaurant’s grand opening.
Alazzeh said he had been hesitant at first about opening a franchise in Tucson, given how far it is from Kansas City.
“I flew down to Tucson and I started driving around and found all these trendy restaurants,” he said. “I’m excited for what’s to come in Tucson. I think it’s a great place for our kind of food, and not just chicken and waffles.”
Albert Lopez, right, helps a customer with her order during the grand opening of Chick-in Waffle on May 19. This is the Missouri chain restaurant’s first Arizona location and first location outside its birthplace in Kansas City.
Alazzeh and Azraq came up with the idea for Chick-in Waffles when Azraq was pregnant with their daughter, who is now 4. Alazzeh said he would come home from work to find his wife, who was craving sweet and savory foods throughout the pregnancy, in the kitchen making chicken and waffles. Every day was a different kind of chicken, including spicy variations.
The couple joked that they would open a chicken and waffles restaurant, but after their daughter was born, Alazzeh decided opening a restaurant wasn’t such a bad idea.
“I decided I needed a change so I put in my two weeks notice,” said Alazzeh, who grew up in his family’s restaurant business but went in a different direction after college. “I swore off the restaurant business after working in the family business, but something told me this is my calling and I went back into it.”
The couple opened their flagship restaurant in Kansas City in January 2020, and after having to slow down courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business took off on social media once pandemic restrictions were lifted.
“Everything just kind of took off for us,” Alazzeh said.
The couple franchised a second Kansas City location, and a third, in nearby Independence, Missouri, is opening soon.
Alazzeh said the concept could expand to Texas and Tennessee.
“I would love to have Chick-in Waffle in all 50 states and beyond, in Canada,” Alazzeh said.
The Tucson restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Learn more at chick-in-waffle.com.
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