The fast growing Haven Hot Chicken, with its signature Nashville hot chicken and “not chicken” vegetarian options, will be opening a new location in Newington next year as part of its efforts to expand into the Hartford market.
The restaurant group, which opened its doors just three years ago in New Haven, is now set to open its seventh location right near the CCSU campus at 12 Fenn Road. The Newington location is planning on opening around late March or early April, according to Jason Sobocinski, co-founder. The spot will primarily cater to curbside takeout and delivery through Uber Eats, while still offering limited dine-in seating.
“We just signed the lease,” Sobocinski said. “It’s going to be a brand new location and the building isn’t even built out yet. There’s a bunch of reasons we chose the spot. We love the proximity to CCSU, we love how it’s right off the highway, and we have been wanting to get into the Hartford area. We’ve got Middletown, but this is really our first break into the Hartford region.”
The restaurant has locations in New Haven, Orange, Norwalk, North Haven and two other locations are set to open this year including at the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs on Nov. 18. Another location in Middletown is slated to open later this year at 524 Main St. According to Sobocinski, the brand has no plans of slowing down its expansion. The leadership team has a “25 x 25” mantra, meaning the brand plans to open 25 locations by the end of 2025.
“100% quality, quality, quality,” Sobocinski said. “It’s our number one objective and why I think we’ve been so successful. We’re obsessive about our quality.”
The restaurant chain’s slogan is “the best hot chicken and not chicken you’ve ever had” and it’s a motto they work hard to live up to, according to Sobocinski. The co-founder along with business partners Craig Sklar, Rob LaTronica, and Etkin Tekin all started the business.
“We didn’t come up with the slogan, we actually took it from hundreds of Yelp reviews. A lot of people were writing it was the best hot chicken or not chicken they ever had. So this is what we build our entire organization around. We want people to have the best hot chicken and not chicken they ever tasted.”
Haven Hot Chicken offers crispy fried chicken and fried cauliflower in five different spice levels, ranging from no-heat “Country” to the most hot “Haven” for the more adventurous spice seekers. Among the most popular item on the menu is “THE Sandwich” which features buttermilk-marinated boneless chicken breast, creamy vinegar slaw, garlic-dill pickle, and Rob sauce on a potato bun. The sandwich can also come in a vegetarian offering featuring oven-roasted, double-fried cauliflower steak.
“Our sandwiches are epic. They’re huge, crispy, juicy, spicy, and mouthwatering delicious,” Sobocinski said. “It’s everything you want in a sandwich. The slaw on top of it just balances it out nicely. We use thick garlic dill pickles. Not like these thin limp pickles you may get somewhere else. Our pickles are crunchy and add so much texture. The sandwich is a blast to eat.”
Other items include chicken and waffles, nuggets, tenders, and sides like creamy vinegar slaw, garlic-dill pickles, French fires, and mac and cheese. One of the more popular sides includes the “Fuego Fries” that feature lightly salted skin-on fries, chopped jumbo chicken tender, creamy vinegar slaw, garlic-dill pickles, and drizzled with Rob Sauce. All of the chicken on the menu is considered Halal and has no trace of pork or alcohol.
The restaurant chain also offers up a banana pudding made with French Vanilla pudding layered with Nilla wafers and fresh sliced banana, and then topped with whipped cream for extra sweetness. The restaurant chain donates $1 for every banana pudding it sells to Connecticut Foodshare to help fight food insecurity. So far this year, a total of about $35,000 has been raised.
“We first reached out to CT Foodshare to do a food exchange where people come to our locations with cans to donate and they get a discount,” Sobocinski said. “But the CEO of CT Foodshare invited us out to tour their facility and I was completely blown away by their massive operation. They said people who are food insecure don’t need creamed corn. They need healthy, fresh food options. So we realized donating cash was the better option.”
The brand has also been recently honored and was named of the best hot chicken chains in the country, according to the Eat This, Not That! website. The brand also has an average Yelp! rating of 4.6 to 4.7 depending on location, a very high rating compared to other chicken restaurants.
“We’re excited to be coming into a whole new area and meet a whole new base of guests to feed,” Sobocinski said. “Our food is fun and it creates joy. So it’s just a lot of fun and it’s a great time for us as a business. Of course the food is spicy too, so it’s a lot of fun getting to also burn your mouth with it.”
Sobocinski has said they named the business “Haven Hot Chicken” because the first was in New Haven, where the co-owners have so many ties, plus the word haven means a place where you can go.
The UConn restaurant will be its largest footprint.
“People are loving it,” Sobocinski has said of the food. “It’s just one of those products that’s fun to eat if you like some kick.”
The hotness/spiciness of the chicken goes from no spice — that’s country chicken — to four levels of hotness, the highest being “Haven” level.
All location hours are the same and open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at [email protected]