Jen Crichfield is preparing to open her second Chicken Salad Chick restaurant in Dublin, Ohio, nearly seven years after introducing the brand to the state through her Westerville location.
The company announced April 13 that the restaurant at 4345 West Dublin-Granville Road would celebrate its grand opening April 28. It describes Dublin as its ninth Ohio restaurant and Crichfield's second. Her first opened in June 2019. Dublin opening announcement
Dublin had appeared in Crichfield's development plans when she was preparing to open Westerville, giving the new announcement a history reaching back to her first franchise investment.
The second city was in the original plan#
Chicken Salad Chick's June 3, 2019, release introduced Crichfield as a first-time franchise owner operating through Buckeye Chick LLC. She had left a corporate career of more than a decade. Her father, Larry Romanoff, a 43-year veteran of Ohio State University's athletic department, was expected to serve as her operations partner.
The release scheduled Westerville-Polaris to open June 12 at 687 Worthington Road. It also said the pair planned an additional Dublin location the following year. The original Ohio debut announcement
The releases do not explain why the current schedule differs from that early plan.
The first announcement also placed the ownership transition within a family partnership. Crichfield brought corporate experience, while Romanoff was named as her future operations partner. The current release names Crichfield as Dublin's owner; it does not describe Romanoff's present responsibilities there.
Columbus grew between the two milestones#
The brand's local footprint expanded while Crichfield remained associated with Westerville. A September 2023 announcement said a company-owned Hamilton Quarter restaurant had opened in 2020. It scheduled Grandview Heights for October 4, 2023, describing that site as the third in Greater Columbus and seventh in Ohio. Grandview Heights development announcement
Grandview's address was 1056 Dublin Road in the Grandview Crossing shopping center, a different site from the restaurant now planned in Dublin. Its planned service format included a drive-thru, an option for customers buying food on the go. The distinction separates the metropolitan area's expansion from the ownership history of one franchisee.
Crichfield's first restaurant helped establish the brand locally, but the subsequent Columbus openings cannot all be counted as additions to her portfolio. The company-owned Hamilton Quarter location is a concrete example of why system growth and an individual owner's growth need separate timelines. By September 2023, the company reported more than 240 restaurants across 17 states, growing through both franchise and company-owned locations.
An opening designed to bring customers back#
For Dublin, the company plans dine-in, takeout, third-party delivery and catering. The opening promotion offers the first guest in line a large Quick Chick weekly for a year; the next 99 receive one monthly.
Eligible participants must remain in line, make the qualifying purchase and enter a code in the Chicken Salad Chick app. The published terms extend the opening promotion into later app redemptions.
For Crichfield, April 28 is the scheduled next step in an ownership story that began with Westerville and an early ambition to reach Dublin.
QSR Pro Staff
The QSR Pro editorial team covers the quick service restaurant industry with in-depth analysis, data-driven reporting, and operator-first perspective.
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