Carlsbad’s North County dining scene just picked up a piece of franchise history. The Shlemon family, longtime owners of two Miramar Road institutions, has become the first group outside Los Angeles to franchise The Red Chickz, the hand-breaded halal fried chicken brand known for its Nashville-style heat levels. Their location at The Shoppes at Carlsbad opened nearly a year ago and is approaching its anniversary on December 2.
For the Shlemon family, the move is a careful first step rather than a leap. Shlemon Hospitality Group has run Abbey’s Real Texas Barbecue on Miramar Road for roughly 40 years, and a few years ago the family also took over the neighboring Philadelphia Sandwich Co., a cheesesteak shop that had served San Diego since 1979. Both businesses are family-operated and deeply rooted in the community, but neither had ever been franchised. Angelique Shlemon, who leads marketing for the family’s concepts, said taking on an existing franchise brand first let them learn the systems and support structure before eventually franchising their own barbecue business. “We wanted to get into the franchise business first and fully understand the model,” she said.
The roughly 2,800-square-foot Red Chickz location at 2525 El Camino Real employs about 20 people and serves the brand’s signature jumbo tenders with heat levels ranging from no spice to extra-extra hot, alongside fried shrimp, cauliflower, chicken-and-waffle plates, rice bowls, tacos and a rotating lineup of roughly ten beers on tap. For Carlsbad and the surrounding North County communities of Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos, it adds another fast-casual option to a corridor that has seen steady retail and restaurant turnover this year.
What makes the story worth watching is what comes next. Shlemon said the family’s long-term plan is to eventually franchise Abbey’s Real Texas Barbecue itself, using lessons learned from running someone else’s brand first. “The goal is to be expanding,” she said. For a family that spent four decades building two restaurants from scratch, stepping into franchising on both sides of the business, as franchisee and eventually franchisor, is a notable bet on North County’s appetite for growth.
Local business owners take note: a well-run operation with deep community roots can still find room to try something new. That kind of steady, calculated growth is exactly what San Diego Business Web likes to spotlight.
Source: What Now San Diego
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