Slim Chickens Restaurant Chain Moving to Larger Headquarters

Northwest Arkansas restaurant chain Slim Chickens is planning to relocate its headquarters to a 10,000-SF building at 1088 E. Millsap Drive in Fayetteville.

The company’s decision to move was driven primarily by the company’s growth, said co-owner Greg Smart.

Ryan Hodson, Tom Gordon and Smart opened the first restaurant in Fayetteville in 2003.

Hodson is no longer with the company. The chain now has 12 locations in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas — a 13th opens March 5 in Hot Springs —and the headquarters has been at 2403 Main Drive in Johnson the past six years.

“We’ve simply outgrown our office space there,” Smart said.

Slim’s paid $875,000 for the vacant building on Millsap Drive. The seller was North Little Rock-based Garver engineering firm. The two-story building, built in 1995, was previously the location of Garver’s Fayetteville office. Garver’s office is now in the Commerce Park II building off Joyce Bouleard.

Brian Shaw, a broker with Fayetteville commercial real estate firm Sage Partners, represented Garver in the transaction and said the building has been vacant for a little more than two years.

The new Slim Chickens Support Center will house the entire team for company restaurant support and franchisee restaurant support, Smart said.

“We are executing agreements with multi-unit franchisees at a brisk pace and we require more office space to provide adequate amenities to help train and support franchise growth,” he explained.

Not all of the building’s space will be dedicated to traditional office space. The new office will contain a training facility and a product testing kitchen to assist in new product development

The building will undergo an extensive interior remodel. Smart hopes to move into the new location in three months.