Love & Honey Fried Chicken

Love & Honey Fried Chicken was founded in 2017 by husband and wife Todd and Laura Lyons, both graduates of the Culinary Institute of America, in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Laura Lyons served as national director of Food Enthusiast Programs at the CIA. The couple built a chef driven Southern style fried chicken concept that received national recognition as one of the country's hottest fried chicken destinations and was named the best Philadelphia fried chicken restaurant in 2018, one year after opening. The brand announced franchising in February 2023 and awarded its first franchise in August 2023 to Nafee Hossain for a University City, Philadelphia location. As of June 2025, it had awarded 18 franchises, with its first franchised brick and mortar location opening in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Love & Honey Franchising Company LLC operates the system. Its founders bring institutional culinary research and development and brand building experience rather than a purely financial approach to expanding a commodity food concept.

One market research benchmark values the global fried chicken market at $100.11 billion in 2025 and projects $107.19 billion in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.1%, followed by $139.66 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 6.8%. A separate framework estimates the sector at approximately $34.6 billion in 2024, reaching $54.8 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2025 to 2034. The difference reflects varying market definitions, while both estimates indicate substantial growth. Quick Service Restaurants held a 49.1% share in 2024, supported by speed, affordability, and consistency. Commercial foodservice represented 68.3% of total market volume in 2024. Demand is also shifting toward premium and gourmet fast food, chef driven QSR concepts, menu transparency, and animal welfare sourcing. Love & Honey uses antibiotic free, humanely raised, vegetarian fed Coleman Natural birds sourced from Delaware. The birds are brined, hand dredged, fried in small batches, and finished with honey. Online delivery integration, cloud kitchens, and demand for convenient food support the format. The premium fried chicken QSR segment remains fragmented, leaving room for regional brands with differentiated offerings and sound unit economics.

The initial franchise fee is $40,000. The Franchise Disclosure Document Item 7 gives a total initial investment of $521,400 to $864,700, while the International Franchise Association lists $519,000 to $749,000. Costs vary with real estate conditions across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia, along with build out requirements for locations of 1,200 to 2,000 square feet and seating for 20 to 30 people. The minimum liquid capital requirement is $65,000. The FDD is dated April 30, 2025, and the franchising entity is Love & Honey Franchising Company LLC. The investment is broadly consistent with other chef forward, premium limited service restaurant concepts in the same format, where kitchen equipment, point of sale and technology infrastructure, leasehold improvements, and pre opening costs commonly total $450,000 to $900,000. The focused menu includes chicken tenders, The Biscuit Jawn, The OG Sandwich, The Nashville Sandwich, chicken wings, tater tots, and seven homemade sauces. This narrower menu may reduce equipment complexity compared with multi category QSR concepts. Revenue comes from dine in, carryout, catering, and third party delivery.

Love & Honey targets locations of 1,200 to 2,000 square feet with seating for 20 to 30 guests. Its greatest hits menu centers on best sellers and established guest favorites, which can reduce kitchen complexity, training time, and variation between locations. The format may suit second generation restaurant spaces, inline strip centers, and urban street level retail sites in the Mid Atlantic and Northeast. Franchisee training is designed to support launch and draws on the brand's established customer base. Technology support includes online ordering, a custom branded app, text and email marketing, inventory management, and business analytics. A national distribution partner supports one stop purchasing. Additional assistance includes a detailed marketing playbook with a step by step engagement calendar, field support to identify performance improvements, site selection guidance, construction oversight, and a structured grand opening program. The company describes the model as having simple operations, strong unit economics, and a modern vibe.

The location sells upwards of 750 pounds of tenders and nearly 600 sandwiches per week. The $645,108 franchise projection reflects a new market entry location, while the $1,800,000 flagship has seven years of operating history and an established local customer base. Franchisees may build on the baseline through dine in, carryout, catering, and delivery, with the company identifying catering growth and delivery improvements as potential performance drivers.

The brand began offering franchises in 2022, announced its program in February 2023, awarded its first franchise in August 2023, and had awarded 18 franchise units as of June 2025, or roughly ten awards per year during the early program. The first franchised brick and mortar location opened in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 2025. The Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania location opened as the second franchised unit in December 2025. Planned locations include Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia, Chestnut Street in University City, Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr, and Cranston, Rhode Island. Additional openings are scheduled for Cherry Hill, King of Prussia, Washington D.C., Princeton, and Northern Virginia. Thirteen more locations are in planning stages across South Philadelphia, King of Prussia, Marlton, University City, Ardmore, and Washington D.C. Differentiation comes from the CIA trained founders, Coleman Natural Foods sourcing of antibiotic free, humanely raised, vegetarian fed Delaware birds, seven house made sauces, and a proprietary brine and hand dredge process. The Philadelphia customer base offers an established market test. National media recognition began in 2018 and continued through the franchising launch. The menu dropped pies and retained banana pudding and Oreo chocolate chip cookies as desserts, tater tots as the signature side, and no french fries, reflecting the brand's culinary approach.

Candidates should live in the target market or be willing to relocate. The model can support a semi owner operator structure, as shown by Bill Kirkland at Bryn Mawr, who entered as a semi retirement venture and already knew the founders, and by Newtown franchisees Kanay and Dev Patel and Kush Amin, who represent a multi partner structure. Logan O'Dell, the CIA graduate kitchen manager at Bryn Mawr, reflects the expected level of culinary professionalism at the unit level. That staffing standard may require more culinary talent than a commodity QSR. Current expansion focuses on Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia. The six to thirteen location pipeline in those markets offers territory availability for qualified candidates. The FDD governs the franchisee and franchisor relationship, with the $40,000 franchise fee serving as the system entry cost. The 13 planned locations across several sub markets may suit multi unit operators able to execute clustered territory strategies.

The investment case combines a chef credentialed founding team, institutional culinary research and development experience, and a flagship that grew from $946,000 in 2020 to $1,800,000 in 2023. The global fried chicken market estimates exceed $100 billion in 2025, with projected growth at 6.8% to 7.1% CAGR. The brand has awarded 18 franchises in premium Mid Atlantic and Northeast markets. PeerSense gives the brand a Franchise Performance Index score of 55 and a Moderate rating, reflecting an early stage system with positive indicators but limited franchised unit operating history. PeerSense provides independent due diligence information that includes SBA lending history, the Loan Activity Score, location maps with Google ratings, FDD financial data, and side by side comparison tools. As a commercial capital advisory firm, PeerSense introduces franchise buyers to SBA and conventional lenders rather than lending or approving loans itself. Buyers can use the franchise profile and related data to assess Love & Honey Fried Chicken against other limited service restaurant opportunities with a similar investment profile.