The Expansion Play
Love & Honey Fried Chicken, the Philadelphia-born fast-casual concept founded in 2017, is formally targeting Massachusetts for its next franchise development wave, with priority markets spanning Greater Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Worcester, Springfield, and both the South Shore and North Shore corridors. The move follows the brand's recent entry into Rhode Island via a Cranston unit — its first location outside its Pennsylvania-New York home territory.
The chain is recruiting experienced, multi-unit operators rather than single-store operators, a deliberate strategy its leadership says is designed to preserve brand consistency as the concept scales into new regional markets. Laura Lyons, Co-Founder and CEO, pointed to early traction in New York and Rhode Island as proof the format travels. "We have seen how guests in New York, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania have connected with the brand," Lyons said, "and we believe the same quality, warmth, and sense of community will resonate with guests across Boston and the surrounding communities."
The Concept and Supply Chain
The menu centers on hand-dredged, freshly prepared fried chicken with scratch-made sauces and sides — a positioning that competes directly with the growing field of premium fried chicken fast-casuals that have been challenging QSR incumbents at the foodservice-at-cstore level as well as in standalone restaurant settings. The brand sources Halal, antibiotic-free chicken through Coleman Farms and operates under a national supply agreement with Sysco, which gives prospective franchisees a backstop on procurement consistency — a meaningful consideration for operators managing multiple units across dispersed markets.
On the financial incentive side, Love & Honey is offering a $5,000 veteran discount on the franchise fee along with multi-unit development incentives. Those terms are increasingly common among emerging fast-casual concepts competing for the same pool of capitalized, experienced operators that larger regional chains also covet.
Why Massachusetts, Why Now
Geoff Goodman, President and a Boston native, framed the market selection as both strategic and personal. "Massachusetts guests won't settle for anything less than great food and a real sense of community," he said, adding that the brand is seeking partners who treat each opening as a community-building exercise rather than a simple unit-count play.
The fried chicken fast-casual segment has been one of the more durable growth categories in foodservice over the past several years, with consumer demand for quality-differentiated chicken concepts showing resilience even as broader restaurant traffic has softened. For multi-unit franchise operators evaluating emerging brands, Massachusetts presents a dense, food-forward consumer base with relatively limited penetration from the newer premium chicken players that have saturated Sun Belt markets. Love & Honey's Halal sourcing also opens access to a meaningful demographic in Greater Boston and Worcester that many conventional fried chicken brands have not specifically addressed.
The brand is directing franchise inquiries to loveandhoneyfranchise.com.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
