Just before Thanksgiving, another bird-based dish had a moment in the spotlight in La Grange as a fast food restaurant cut the ribbon on its new La Grange Road location.
Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken and Wings had its grand opening Nov. 20 at 1 N. La Grange Rd. after its soft opening a few days earlier.
Business, co-owner Sadaf Fatani said, has been good at the chicken chain that’s not yet as well known in the area as it is on the East Coast, particularly in northern Virginia and Maryland.
“I think we’re getting there and actually making a presence in the market,” Fatani said. “Chicago has a little more competition when it comes to the food industry, but there’s still a lot of market out there for us to grow.”
It was after a visit to Virginia that the La Grange restaurant owners decided to invest in a Hangry Joe’s franchise.
“We reached out to them and said we want to bring this to Chicago,” said Fatani, who owns the La Grange restaurant with her brother and sister.
The La Grange one is the third owned by the Fatani family, which also owns Hangry Joe’s in Naperville and the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Co-owner Gulam Fatani, Sadaf’s brother, who worked for five years as a general regional manager for Popeye’s Chicken, talked about how his sister first ate at a Hangry Joe’s in Virginia and convinced him that he had to try it.
“At that time, they only had about three stores, but right now, they’re about to close in on about 100,” he said.
While the brand specializes in “hot” chicken, the restaurant offers six tiers of spicing for its chicken, ranging from “no seasoning” to “angry hot,” which requires customers to sign a waiver upon ordering it.
“There’s something for everyone,” Sadaf Fatani said.
Hangry Joe’s culinary style is described on its website, hangryjoes.com, as a blend of “Nashville’s fiery hot chicken tradition with Korean culinary influences.”
That combination has proved popular, with the chain expanding throughout the country, according to Joe Oh, the chain’s Joe Oh, national assistant director of operations who was on hand for the ribbon cutting in La Grange.
“We have about seven or eight locations in Chicago, 10 stores in the Texas area, and we just opened one more store in Seattle, so there are two in Seattle,” he said. “We also have a store in Dubai, we have one location in Korea, and we also just opened up one in Japan.”
Sadaf Fatani wanted people to know that despite its growth across the country, Hangry Joe’s remained a family business.
“Although it is a franchise, it is family-owned,” she said. “It’s a bit of a hybrid. We have the franchise helping us, but it is really our own hard work. We are a small, family business as well.”
Dan Mulka, new executive director of the La Grange Business Association, was on hand to celebrate the opening of another new business in La Grange.
“There’s even more coming,” he said of the new businesses in the village, including Upper’s Land, a children’s indoor playground and party center that opened Nov. 21 at 25 Calendar Ave.
“It’s great,” Mulka said. “There’s so many reasons to celebrate. New restaurants, last week was the 10th anniversary of JAYNE Boutique. Lots of good people having a lot of luck and fortune being able to open a business and keep it going.”
Indeed, there’s not much in the way of open retail space left in La Grange, but one familiar establishment entirely revamped its business.
Two days before Hangry Joe’s Grand Opening, the McDonald’s across the street at 2 N. La Grange Rd., had its own ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The location had long housed a McDonald’s franchise, but previously operated as part of a BP Franchise while there are some tables available for dining in, the new McDonald’s is oriented toward the drive-thru customer.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
