Colbie’s Southern Kissed Chicken is the brainchild of chef Fabio Viviani and brothers Mike and Craig Colby. The trio is also franchising another brand, Chuck Lager America’s Tavern.
Fabio Viviani’s hospitality group owns and operates 40 food establishments across 28 different concepts in venues including hotels, airports and casinos, plus fine dining restaurants such as Riviera in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Chicago’s Prime & Provisions. “But we weren’t leveraging our ability to replicate the concepts,” said Viviani, the chef whose appearances on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and numerous other national TV shows helped propel a culinary career that started in Florence, Italy, before he moved to California in 2005.
“I said, how can I build the perfect chain? What is the perfect chain?” Viviani recalled asking himself. “It’s a replicable concept that still keeps its own character.”
That’s what Viviani sought to do with two concepts, Chuck Lager America’s Tavern and Colbie’s Southern Kissed Chicken, which he developed with brothers and longtime franchisees Mike and Craig Colby. The trio is franchising both restaurants, one a full-service casual dining brand and the other a quick-service chicken concept its creators are putting up against Chick-fil-A.
“This is something that excites me,” said Viviani of rolling out Chuck Lager and Colbie’s. “You get the best of the chain restaurants” with their training, consistency and marketing power, “but you also get the creativity of a celebrity chef. And I hate the word ‘celebrity’ because I probably work more than every chef combined, but the people love the celebrity so I give it to them.”
Playing up that celebrity status has absolutely helped the brands, said Mike Colby, both to attract customers and franchise candidates. Viviani, he noted, brings menu development experience and marketing prowess, and Colby and his brother have decades of franchise operational knowledge, first as 15-unit Burger King franchisees and now as operators of six Red Robins, two Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux locations and a Twin Peaks restaurant.
“We saw an opportunity for an upscale tavern with a better experience and better food,” said Colby of Chuck Lager, which has three open locations, in Delaware, New Jersey and Florida. The investment cost can range from $769,500 to nearly $4 million, according to the franchise disclosure document, and Colby said they’re focused on second generation spaces to keep costs down. The food, meanwhile, is representative of the “big caldron” that is American cuisine, said Viviani, with his take on Italian, Asian and Mexican dishes all on the menu, plus a robust beverage program.
Fabio Viviani
Anthony Sandstrom and Brian Henry are the first Chuck Lager franchisees, with a location open in Wesley Chapel, Florida, a suburb of Tampa Sandstrom said is growing at a rapid rate. Since opening in November, “we’re doing about $95,000 a week in sales,” he noted of their 7,500-square-foot restaurant with large patio and two bars. “And our baseline sales haven’t dropped, and this is during COVID. And we haven’t turned on delivery.” The two are already planning their second and third units, looking for slightly smaller 6,000-square-foot spaces, and will also develop Colbie’s in West Florida.
Sandstrom and Henry are experienced restaurant operators who met working at regional East Coast chain Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza. Chuck Lager, Sandstrom said, has the national appeal of an Applebee’s or Chili’s, but “brings an elevated experience, elevated atmosphere and elevated food.” They got interested in Colbie’s because “chicken is as hot as can be right now,” he continued, and the new concept “takes fast food and really turns it upside down. It’s cool, it’s edgy.” The cost to open ranges from $710,500 to $2,654,000.
The first Colbie’s Southern Kissed Chicken, developed with part owner and former Phillies star Ryan Howard, opened in March in suburban Philadelphia. More than 200 cars consistently filled the drive-thru during the restaurant’s first weeks, said Viviani, who created what he said is “the best—and best-looking—fried chicken sandwich in the industry.”
“And I love Chick-fil-A, I love KFC … but from a quality perspective and price, I need to beat them on every side,” he said. Colbie’s, which has 10 chicken sandwiches on the menu including original, Nashville hot and Hawaiian versions, priced from $4.50 to $6, also offers wraps, salads, sides and “fun food” such as fried Oreos and funnel cakes.
That menu variety will help Colbie’s stand out from others in the chicken segment, said Viviani, while his menu engineering expertise will keep kitchen operations manageable for franchisees. “I know how to keep food costs down and keep inventory moving.”