Hot Chick’s space at 7 N. 17th St. in Shockoe Bottom. (BizSense file)
The food hall in the works in Scott’s Addition from EAT Restaurant Partners continues to reshape the company’s Richmond footprint.
EAT last month shuttered its fried chicken joint Hot Chick at 7 N. 17th St. in Shockoe Bottom.
Though the closure ends the restaurant’s four-year run in the Bottom, EAT President Chris Tsui said Hot Chick is expected to make a return as part of EAT’s upcoming food hall at 3013 W. Leigh St.
It’s the second such move for EAT in recent weeks, after it shuttered Foo Dog at 1537 W. Main St. in the Fan in favor of relocating the ramen spot to the under-construction Scott’s Addition venue.
With the food hall and other projects in the works, Tsui said the group also decided to close Hot Chick as a standalone restaurant due to interest from others in leasing the space, which overlooks the 17th Street Farmers Market and is owned by EAT.
Chris Tsui
“(Hot Chick) was doing fine but we have a lot going on and it was more of a business decision to go ahead and lease it out and move it to the food hall. We could have waited, but some people were asking for the space,” Tsui said.
He said Wednesday that talks were ongoing with potential new tenants.
EAT also owns the former Foo Dog space and is leasing it to a new restaurant called Main St. Dragon, which is an upcoming eatery by Sushi-O owner Andy Wu.
EAT also is in the early stages of making an out-of-town expansion push for Asian-Mexican fusion restaurant Wong’s Tacos.
The company’s other local restaurants include Pizza & Beer of Richmond, Fat Dragon and Beijing on Grove.
Hot Chick opened on 17th Street in January 2019, and it was the concept’s only location. The group had planned for a Hot Chick in Midlothian, but Tsui said that’s no longer in the works.
Chic’n & Beer opens
Chic’n & Beer is a fried chicken restaurant at 1800 E. Main St. in Shockoe Bottom (Jack Jacobs photo)
Amid Hot Chick’s exit from Shockoe Bottom, a new chicken joint has spread its wings around the corner.
Chic’n & Beer opened last week at 1800 E. Main St., co-owner Tysean Ford said. The restaurant took over the space formerly occupied by the short-lived 1800 Brewhouse, a restaurant Ford also had a hand in.
Tysean Ford
Chic’n & Beer sells chicken tenders, biscuits and wings, per its online menu. Ford said he saw an opportunity to fill the void left by the departure of the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings, which shuttered last summer at 1501 E. Cary St.
“It’s a market we’re going to capture,” Ford said.
Ford said 1800 Brewhouse, which closed in October, was an experiment that was ultimately ended to focus energies on what he said was a simpler restaurant concept. Maurice Bibbins was a co-owner of 1800 Brewhouse, but isn’t part of Chic’n & Beer’s ownership group. Ford and Asia Soto are managing partners at Chic’n & Beer.
Ford said the new Shockoe Bottom spot is a relocated and rebranded iteration of Chic’n Crave, a fried chicken restaurant that he and Bibbins operated in Jackson Ward.
Ford said the Chic’n Crave brand has been sold to a private investment group, and that his Chic’n & Beer concept is a subsidiary of that brand.
Hot Chick’s space at 7 N. 17th St. in Shockoe Bottom. (BizSense file)
The food hall in the works in Scott’s Addition from EAT Restaurant Partners continues to reshape the company’s Richmond footprint.
EAT last month shuttered its fried chicken joint Hot Chick at 7 N. 17th St. in Shockoe Bottom.
Though the closure ends the restaurant’s four-year run in the Bottom, EAT President Chris Tsui said Hot Chick is expected to make a return as part of EAT’s upcoming food hall at 3013 W. Leigh St.
It’s the second such move for EAT in recent weeks, after it shuttered Foo Dog at 1537 W. Main St. in the Fan in favor of relocating the ramen spot to the under-construction Scott’s Addition venue.
With the food hall and other projects in the works, Tsui said the group also decided to close Hot Chick as a standalone restaurant due to interest from others in leasing the space, which overlooks the 17th Street Farmers Market and is owned by EAT.
Chris Tsui
“(Hot Chick) was doing fine but we have a lot going on and it was more of a business decision to go ahead and lease it out and move it to the food hall. We could have waited, but some people were asking for the space,” Tsui said.
He said Wednesday that talks were ongoing with potential new tenants.
EAT also owns the former Foo Dog space and is leasing it to a new restaurant called Main St. Dragon, which is an upcoming eatery by Sushi-O owner Andy Wu.
EAT also is in the early stages of making an out-of-town expansion push for Asian-Mexican fusion restaurant Wong’s Tacos.
The company’s other local restaurants include Pizza & Beer of Richmond, Fat Dragon and Beijing on Grove.
Hot Chick opened on 17th Street in January 2019, and it was the concept’s only location. The group had planned for a Hot Chick in Midlothian, but Tsui said that’s no longer in the works.
Chic’n & Beer opens
Chic’n & Beer is a fried chicken restaurant at 1800 E. Main St. in Shockoe Bottom (Jack Jacobs photo)
Amid Hot Chick’s exit from Shockoe Bottom, a new chicken joint has spread its wings around the corner.
Chic’n & Beer opened last week at 1800 E. Main St., co-owner Tysean Ford said. The restaurant took over the space formerly occupied by the short-lived 1800 Brewhouse, a restaurant Ford also had a hand in.
Tysean Ford
Chic’n & Beer sells chicken tenders, biscuits and wings, per its online menu. Ford said he saw an opportunity to fill the void left by the departure of the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings, which shuttered last summer at 1501 E. Cary St.
“It’s a market we’re going to capture,” Ford said.
Ford said 1800 Brewhouse, which closed in October, was an experiment that was ultimately ended to focus energies on what he said was a simpler restaurant concept. Maurice Bibbins was a co-owner of 1800 Brewhouse, but isn’t part of Chic’n & Beer’s ownership group. Ford and Asia Soto are managing partners at Chic’n & Beer.
Ford said the new Shockoe Bottom spot is a relocated and rebranded iteration of Chic’n Crave, a fried chicken restaurant that he and Bibbins operated in Jackson Ward.
Ford said the Chic’n Crave brand has been sold to a private investment group, and that his Chic’n & Beer concept is a subsidiary of that brand.
I’m proud of these guys they are going to be awesome