Fast-growing chicken salad restaurant concept welcomes Marianna Magee and Jon Musser to expanding team
Chicken Salad Chick, the nation’s only Southern inspired, fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today that it has named Marianna Magee as Director of Marketing and Jon Musser as Director of Supply Chain. These additions to the brand’s rapidly growing corporate team come on the heels of the promotions of longstanding leaders Jim Thompson, Terry McKee, Tom Carr, Mary Lou Atkins and Carrie Evans this August. Chicken Salad Chick, which now has more than 175 locations in 17 states, has become one of the nation’s fastest-growing restaurant chains, opening 34 new locations year-to-date, with four more projected to open before the end of 2020.
“With all this year has brought, we feel incredibly fortunate that we’re able to continue growing our brand and bring on best-in-class leaders to help support our vision for future growth,” said Scott Deviney, CEO of Chicken Salad Chick. “Marianna and Jon are two talented and well-experienced individuals that exemplify the caliber of people taking our brand to new heights. We couldn’t be more thrilled to add them to our team and know that they will make numerous contributions to Chicken Salad Chick and our network of franchise owners in the exciting years to come.”
Marianna Magee is a seasoned brand leader with more than 15 years of experience in integrated marketing and has a proven track record of delivering impactful strategies that build sales and profitability. She has spent most of her career working for nationally-recognized restaurant franchise brands such as Popeye’s, Arby’s and Mrs. Winner’s Chicken & Biscuits, focusing on brand marketing and communications, strategic planning, and project management. In her new role as Director of Marketing for Chicken Salad Chick, Magee will be responsible for driving guest traffic to the brand’s 175+ locations through local and community marketing; developing key marketing strategies to optimize sales; and leading marketing initiatives for the brand’s robust grand opening pipeline.
As Chicken Salad Chick’s new Director of Supply Chain, Jon Musser has been tasked with aligning current and potential partners to support the brand’s growth as it continues to expand throughout the South and Midwest regions. He will formalize the supply chain function for the brand and be in charge of managing all aspects, including contract management, procurement, logistics, distribution, forecasting, demand planning and more. Prior to joining Chicken Salad Chick, Musser was with The Honey Baked Ham Company for 15 years where he held various roles, most recently serving as the brand’s senior supply chain manager, a position he held since 2005.
Chicken Salad Chick has grown exponentially in recent years, more than quadrupling in size since 2016. At the beginning of this year, the brand recorded 2019 as the most successful year in its company history, opening 40 new restaurants, achieving 16 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth and seeing a 40.1% and 38.5% increase in systemwide sales and unit count, respectively. This impressive growth and year-over-year results attracted prominent private equity firm Brentwood Associates, which acquired Chicken Salad Chick from Eagle Merchant Partners in November 2019. Chicken Salad Chick aims to become America’s favorite place for chicken salad, and have 500 locations open and operating by the end of 2025.
