Slim Chickens Tests Samsung Smart TV Ordering in Arkansas

Slim Chickens is turning Samsung Smart TVs into a direct ordering channel, launching a pilot in Northwest Arkansas that lets guests browse its full menu and check out using their TV remote — no app download, no QR code, no marketplace middleman.

The 300-plus-unit fast-casual chicken franchise is working with klyq, the shoppable streaming marketplace built on NBTV's patented BuyBar™ platform, and Gett, a direct-to-merchant ordering network that connects restaurants to emerging consumer channels including AI assistants, smart TVs, and social platforms. Orders surface through a Slim Chickens advertisement on the Samsung Smart TV home screen; a viewer selects the ad, watches short-form brand content, and builds an order using the BuyBar™ interface — all via remote. Checkout completes on the TV.

Why First-Party Matters

The mechanics behind the pilot matter as much as the novelty. Orders flow through Gett's First Party Everywhere (FPE) network directly into Slim Chickens' own online ordering platform — the same infrastructure that powers the brand's app and website. No new back-of-house equipment is required, and the team on the line sees no change to ticket flow. Because no third-party marketplace sits in the middle, Slim Chickens retains the customer relationship and guests pay the brand's own menu prices without a marketplace markup.

That margin-retention angle is increasingly central to off-premises strategy across foodservice, where platform commissions of 20–30% have pressured restaurant operators for years. Gett's network now includes more than 40,000 partner restaurants across those integrated channels.

"The TV has always been where people get hungry. We just made it a place where they can now do something about it effortlessly," said Ben Turner, vice president of brand performance at Slim Chickens. "We're not just renting space on the biggest screen in the house. We're turning TVs into Slim Chickens counters."

Home Market as Launch Pad

Northwest Arkansas is a deliberate starting point. Slim Chickens opened its first location in Fayetteville in 2003 and now operates more than 300 units across 34 U.S. states and four international markets, with a stated goal of reaching 600-plus restaurants within the decade. Piloting in its home market gives the brand a controlled environment to validate order volume, ticket accuracy, and guest adoption before any broader rollout.

klyq's BuyBar™ platform is currently available across more than 80 million U.S. Samsung Smart TVs, with planned expansion to Vizio, Apple TV, and Google TV — a combined addressable footprint that dwarfs any single delivery app's installed base. For fast-casual brands competing on digital ordering channels, that scale represents a meaningful distribution opportunity if the pilot converts.

The move reflects a broader industry push to diversify digital ordering surfaces beyond the dominant third-party delivery platforms. As agentic commerce — ordering triggered by AI assistants, ambient screens, and connected devices — moves from concept to commercial reality, restaurant brands that have invested in robust first-party ordering infrastructure are best positioned to plug into those new channels without ceding guest data or margin.

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.