TL;DR
Chicken Salad Chick's CFO Drew Travis discusses the company's growth plans, including using AI for site selection, with the goal of reaching over 500 units. Travis shares insights from his experience at previous companies, including McDonald's and Grubhub.
Hosts Cherryh Cansler and Paul Barron also break down why the rumored Starbucks and Chipotle deal was a false start, discuss how top brands are navigating traffic slumps without gutting margins, and explore bold marketing shifts like Chipotle’s "big ass bag."
Join the hosts fresh off the Fast Casual Executive Summit and Restaurant Catering Workshop as they chat with Drew Travis, the new CFO of Chicken Salad Chick. He shares insights from his time at McDonald's, Grubhub, and Bloomin' Brands, explaining howChicken Salad Chick is scaling past 340+ locations toward 500+ units, using AI to power predictive site selection, and driving positive foot traffic through consistency and pure Southern hospitality.
Also, the hosts analyze why the rumored Starbucks and Chipotle deal was a false start, discuss how top brands are navigating traffic slumps without gutting margins, and explore bold marketing shifts like Chipotle's "big ass bag."
In this story
This story was originally published in FastCasual on October 23, 2026. Burnaze summarizes and links to the original reporting.
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