Chicken Salad Chick opens to long lines

Teresa Parraz, a student at the University of New Mexico, camped in front of Chicken Salad Chick overnight Monday to ensure she was the first customer at the new restaurant.

The move scored the college student one free chicken salad per week for a year, as well as a water bottle with the company’s logo on it.

“Being a college student means sometimes I struggle with food insecurity, so I really wanted to win,” she said. “It’s my birthday, too, so that made it really exciting.”

Once Parraz received her order, the crowd erupted in cheers and clapped to celebrate the restaurant’s first customer.

Chicken Salad Chick opened on Tuesday the doors of its first New Mexico location . The restaurant is at 10621 Unser NW and is open Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Alabama-based fast food restaurant has a chicken salad themed menu, including sandwiches, pimento cheese, salads and soups.

Customers were invited to the grand opening of the restaurant and the first 100 people in line received one large “Quick Chick” of chicken salad per month for a year.

Franchise owners Jennifer Sanchez and Keith Murray said they are very excited to bring the franchise to New Mexico, given Sanchez’s history with the company and her pride in New Mexico being her home state.

Before becoming a franchise owner, Sanchez worked at Chicken Salad Chick for nearly three years as a support center executive.

“Keith and I fell in love with Chicken Salad Chick — the food, the culture, the brand,” Sanchez said in a statement. ”The community has been really great at showing their support. We got a lot of encouragement and a lot of people came out today to show their support.”

By 9:40 a.m., the line for the restaurant wrapped around the building with people camping out in chairs and tables as they waited for the chance to taste Chicken Salad Chick for the first time.

The franchise owners said they look forward to giving back to the community by getting involved with various organizations.

“We want to work side-by-side with our crew and be involved in the restaurant,” Murray said. “We hired some students from Cibola High School. ... We also connected with (the New Mexico Department of) Workforce Solutions to give some people a job. Our employers have become stewards in our business.”