--- title: "Layne’s Chicken Fingers Continues to Grow in Texas as Demand Increases Throughout State" url: https://burnaze.com/article/2ca8ae1b-42c3-4919-9c94-3acd0e938957 source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/layneschickenfingers/laynes-chicken-fingers-continues-to-grow-in-texas-as-demand-increases-throughout-state-2718728 category: "Chicken" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Chicken" published: 2022-05-16T15:10:00.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T22:33:46.054Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/772a9e588f62c041867ababde1c42e845057.jpg --- # Layne’s Chicken Fingers Continues to Grow in Texas as Demand Increases Throughout State **TL;DR:** Layne's Chicken Fingers has signed deals for 40 new units, with 35 set to open in Texas, as the brand continues to grow in its home state. The brand is targeting several Texas markets for immediate development, including Abilene, Lubbock, and Amarillo. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2022-05-16. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/layneschickenfingers/laynes-chicken-fingers-continues-to-grow-in-texas-as-demand-increases-throughout-state-2718728).* ## Key facts - Layne's has signed deals for 40 new units - 35 units will be in Texas - The brand is targeting Abilene and Lubbock for development ## Story Since launching its franchise opportunity just last year, Layne’s Chicken Fingers, the “Soon To Be Famous™” chicken brand has already experienced rapid growth, signing development deals for more than 40 new units. The vast majority of those units — 35 of them — are set to open in the brand’s home state of Texas, where Layne’s has grown from a single-location chicken joint on the Texas A&M campus to a thriving chain beloved throughout the state. But the fast-growing franchise is nowhere near selling out the state, with plans for continued expansion throughout Abilene, Lubbock, Amarillo, the Valley and a number of other Texas markets. “We are Texas-born and Texas-bred, and we have an enormous and loyal following here,” said Samir Wattar, Layne’s Chief Operating Officer. “Every location we’ve opened has seen fantastic success, and there is still so much white space for us to cover.” Layne’s development team is not looking exclusively to Texas for growth — the brand recently signed a development deal in Washington, DC and is in talks with prospective franchisees in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey — but Wattar says developing Texas is the core of the franchise’s expansion strategy. “If someone in another state reaches out, we’ll evaluate the opportunity, but our strategy is really focused on leveraging our success to grow out in concentric circles,” he said. “That will allow each new location to benefit from the support, infrastructure and phenomenal brand awareness that our existing locations enjoy.” ## Texas growth strategy Layne’s growth in Texas mirrors the state’s own growth. Since 2010, Texas’s population has increased by 16%, with Dallas and Houston leading the nation in metropolitan growth year after year. Forbes recently ranked Texas as the best state for business growth, with strong employment and income growth forecasts for the next half-decade. In recent years, corporate behemoths like Amazon, Tesla and HP have moved their operations to Texas to take advantage of the state’s favorable economic conditions. As Layne’s fields inquiries from prospective franchisees across Texas, Wattar says both the brand and its potential new partners benefit from a flexible brick-and-mortar footprint that allows franchise owners to set up shop in a variety of locations. “In the franchise world, what you often see is a single-store model, and if a franchisee can’t make that model work in the area they want to open, then they’re out of luck,” he said. “We’ve got much more flexibility, which allows us to cover more ground, and it allows franchise owners to really make their store their own.” ## Flexible store models To that end, Wattar says Layne’s has a dedicated real estate expert who works with franchisees to find the most lucrative location and store model, which may be a second-generation restaurant, a drive-thru-only restaurant or an end-cap restaurant with a drive-thru.” “Our dedicated real estate team is just one of the ways we support new and existing franchisees with expert and focused attention on every aspect of their opening and ongoing operations,” Wattar said. “We have finance experts, operations experts — an expert for virtually every facet of the business.” Layne’s currently has eight units open throughout Texas with another 35 sold throughout the state. The brand is actively seeking new franchise partners across Texas and is targeting Abilene, Lubbock, Amarillo and the Valley for immediate development. Founded in 1994 in College Station, the original location became a Texas A&M legend known for its small-town charm, friendly service, iconic chicken fingers and secret sauce. While opening corporate locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the leadership team focused on fine tuning its operations and starting to franchise. Now, the company is planning to bring Layne’s Soon to be Famous™ Chicken Fingers to the rest of the world with plans to open 100 locations by the next four years. ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - Restaurants (sector) - unit expansion (topic) - franchise development (topic) - texas (location) - brand growth (topic) - Amazon (company) - Forbes (company) - new jersey (location) - ohio (location) - Pennsylvania (location) - Layne's Chicken Fingers (company) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/layneschickenfingers/laynes-chicken-fingers-continues-to-grow-in-texas-as-demand-increases-throughout-state-2718728). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/2ca8ae1b-42c3-4919-9c94-3acd0e938957).