The group’s restaurants in Haggerston, which opened in 2015, and in Seven Dials, which opened in 2016, are now closed, with Sunday (25 June) the last day that they traded.
Its recently opened site in food hall Corner Corner will, however, remain open, and the brand will be present a festivals with its food truck.
In a post on Instagram, co-founder David Wolanski describes the current trading situation as not viable, and that casual dining model is ‘broken’.
“We do what we do because we love it fuelled by passion and a desire to provide guests with awesome food and memorable dining experiences. But that’s not enough these days,” says Wolanski in the post.
“We hung in there as long as we could but I’m afraid that we’ve now reached the point where operating the two restaurants just isn’t viable anymore and it makes no commercial sense to continue.
“The casual dining restaurant model is broken but that’s for another post.”
Wolanski launched Chick ‘N Sours with co-founder Carl Clarke with the aim of opening the ‘best chicken shop in the world’. He says they scraped together what limited funds they had to open the Haggerston restaurant and go on this ‘wild rollercoaster of a trip’ of restaurant ownership.
At their business’ peak Clarke and Wolanski operated four Chick ‘N Sours restaurants, with sites also in Spitalfields and Islington.
The pair later converted the Islington site to their quick-serve spin off brand CHIK’N, which has since been rebranded as Chicken Shop under a partnership with Soho House Group.
Food hall site remains
More recently they opened the first south London site for the brand at KERB’s new Corner Corner food hall in Canada Water. That site will remain open, as will Chick ‘N Sours’ food truck.
The brand’s foods will also be available to order for delivery through dark kitchens.
“We’re going to miss our local communities in both Haggerston and Seven Dials but this isn’t the end of the story. We spent 10 years building this baby and we’re not done yet,” adds Wolanski.
“The brand you’ve shown so much love for will continue to live on through live events, festivals, pop-ups, residencies like Roof East and Corner Corner, as well as on delivery platforms.
“This will enable us to reach more of you than we could with just the bricks and mortar restaurants. It actually feels a bit like a full circle as Chick ‘N Sours was born after a chance meeting of two crazy cats at the festival back in 2011.
“Our little chicken shop has resonated with so many people and even though we’re closing the restaurants we are proud to have built a brand that’s been able to put a smile on so many faces for over a decade.
“It’s a time to celebrate what we achieved rather than be sad about what we’ve lost.”
