Upon meeting Chicken Chef’s new owners, one can’t help but feel the infectious nature of their passion and drive for this staple restaurant. The brother and sister team of Tim and Laura Mulvena, as well as Tim’s brother-in-law Carl Pottinger, are more than just excited as they expand their Chicken Chef franchise ownership into Niverville.
“It’ll be business as usual,” says Laura, who will be the onsite manager of the Niverville location. “We want to get to know everybody [in this community].”
The trio are no strangers to franchise management. Carl bought his first Chicken Chef franchise in Ashern three years ago and has since become a shareholder in three more: Lundar, Arborg, and now Niverville.
Tim is also a partner and general manager for the Arborg and Ashern locations and Laura gained her experience in franchise management through her Sage Creek Freshii store in Winnipeg.
Just one week into management, the new ownership group’s wheels are already spinning with new and fresh ideas they hope to introduce to the Niverville location.
New items will be hitting the menu in the coming week, including boneless wings and sweet potato fries. But that’s just the beginning.
Recognizing that Niverville is quickly becoming a multicultural community, they hope to introduce new menu items that cater to different nationalities. As well, more vegetarian and gluten-free options should be available in the near future.
“We’re trying to learn [the various] nationalities of people that live in town here and what people don’t have in town that we might be able to offer,” says Tim. “There’ll be something to eat for everybody… so that we’ll be able to please as many people as possible.”
Pending local feedback, the team would also consider licensing for beer and wine which pair well, they say, with their menu.
Along with menu changes, they’re considering a new line-up of services. Delivery will likely expand very soon into rural communities not currently being served by a Chicken Chef franchise. Friday lunch buffets and student lunch deals are also being pondered.
Efficiency of service will soon be improved by providing wait staff with electronic tablets for order-taking, and they hope to introduce an online ordering system which will give customers a chance to view the full take-out menu from their mobile devices and place orders electronically.
Other services, too, have worked well for the team at different locations. Catering is one they’ve already built a reputation on, and Carl says no event or size of group is out of the question.
“Catering is [something] that we’re going to expand into,” says Carl. “And it’s not just chicken and pizza. It can be roast beef, turkey, ham, meatballs, pulled pork. We can do just about any type of item that you can think of. We’ve [got experience catering to] groups of a thousand.”
As well, parents will be glad to see the introduction of kids birthday party packages, with a variety of options including the delivery of a bouncy castle so kids can be entertained and heartily fed in one fell swoop.
In the end, they say, everything they do will be about providing the best possible customer service.
“It’s about building relationships,” says Laura. “That’s what it comes down to. You have to build a strong relationship with your staff so that they respect you and want to work for you. Also, building relationships with customers so they want to support your business. Even though we don’t live in the community, we grew up in small towns so we know what it’s like.”
All of the restaurant’s current staff has been maintained upon takeover and they hope to continue to provide the community’s youth with excellent first-job work experience in a supportive setting.
“I worked as a waitress and went to head cook [at a Chicken Chef] when I was in high school, so this brings me back to [my roots],” Laura says. “I loved waitressing.”
To be a part of a community, the trio says, means giving back to the residents in tangible ways.
“At the end of the day, you can’t just take [from a community] and never give something back,” says Tim. “It always comes back to you.”
And based on their track record in other communities, they should be good for their word. Recently, the team treated stranded motorists and Hydro workers in Ashern to free meals during an extended power outage. As well, they’ve been known to bring complimentary hot meals to firefighters as they battle blazes.
Saying Goodbye
Previous owners Shawn and Merris Dyck took care of the community’s appetite for nearly 11 years prior to the sale. Merris says they hadn’t officially been entertaining the idea of selling the business until they were approached by prospective buyers.
“It felt like the right time solely for the reason that we felt like we are still young enough to tackle something new,” says Merris. “We also realised that, with the town growing in size again, we didn’t have the energy that someone younger and with fresh eyes may have.”
Merris says they learned a lot during their tenure as first-time entrepreneurs and are thankful to the community for the love and friendship that was shared with them.
