(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The entrepreneur behind Chicago’s Fry the Coop chain had originally planned to launch a restaurant here focused on meatballs.
But that wasn’t in the cards, so he pivoted to Nashville-style hot chicken, Joe Fontana told the Noon Business Hour on Friday.
The Villa Park native had worked in the hospitality industry while attending the University of Chicago, where he acquired a degree in sociology in 2007. He moved to southern California and worked in marketing and sales but says he missed interacting with people at restaurants.
“I love, just love, the instant gratification of when you give somebody a great meal and a drink and you know their name – it’s the whole ‘Cheers’ thing,” Fontana said.
He tested a meatball pop-up stand, using his grandmother’s recipe, with a $2,500 investment. This led to the successful launch of Meatball Republic.
The switch to hot chicken sandwiches and tenders occurred after Fontana found a built-out restaurant location in Oak Lawn on 95th Street. He said he didn’t think the meatball restaurant concept would work there, but he determined that chicken would.
“At the time, I’d fallen in love with fried chicken sandwiches, and I saw in California there was this big explosion of fried chicken sandwiches all over,” Fontana said.
That was in 2017. Today, there are seven additional Fry the Coop locations.
Three are in Chicago: West Town, Portage Park and Lincoln Park. Four more are in the suburbs: Darien, Elmhurst, Prospect Heights and Tinley Park.
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