New Mexico’s first Silm Chickens restaurant opens in Farmington
By Ron Davis – Reporter, Albuquerque Business First January 14th, 2022, 5:39pm EST
The chickens have come home to roost, just off Main Street in Farmington.
On Monday, the first Slim Chickens opened in New Mexico. Restaurant franchisee Dennis Ekstrom spearheaded bringing the Arkansas-based chain to the state and worked with Albuquerque-based developers to bring it to market.
Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group acquired at the site 3475 E. Main Street three-and-half years ago. At the time, the 2,500-square-foot building was home to Serious Texas Bar-B-Q. Allen Sigmon principals Brad Allen and Lance Sigmon and King Capital Commercial Real Estate’s Clayton King partnered on the Slim Chickens deal as the owners.
Sigmon said King had a relationship with Ekstrom, which helped facilitate the deal. Allen Sigmon broker Jessie Springer represented the ownership group.
“I hadn’t been to a Slim Chickens. When Dennis approached us and I got a look at the menu, offerings and their model, I just thought it would be a great fit for New Mexico,” Sigmon said. “I was totally supportive of it because it looked like a place where I’d want to eat myself.
“The thing I like most about Slims Chickens and this product type is one, there’s a high demand for chicken products today in general. And two, we like the financial strength, experience and stability of the franchisee. With those two things in mind, we thought this would be a good tenant to have.”
Ekstrom said he hired 87 employees for the Farmington location. Deliberate recruiting efforts as the store was getting ready to open, and offering wages above the state’s minimum of $11.50 per hour helped meet hiring goals, he said. Each employee makes at least $12 an hour with a rising pay for more experience and type of role.
“That’s one thing we’ve got to do to attract people: be competitive and be a leader in that arena,” Ekstrom said.
As a franchisee, Ekstrom oversees New Mexico’s 10 Del Taco restaurants and some of the state’s Denny’s locations.
Moving forward, Ekstrom expects to bring three Slim Chickens to the Albuquerque area by the fourth quarter of 2022 or early 2023. He said the three restaurants will be new, ground-up, 2,800-square-foot buildings and have drive-thrus, dining rooms and patios. The restaurants can seat up to 100 people with the patio and indoor dining.
Ekstrom declined to share specific locations, but he said the three be located off Interstate 40, Wyoming Boulevard and around Unser Boulevard, respectively.
Originally reported on ABQ Biz First:
https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2022/01/14/states-first-silm-chickens-opens-in-farmington.html
Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group is a full-service commercial real estate company based in Albuquerque with an expertise in acquisitions, brokerage, development, and property management. As a local company, we pride ourselves in our knowledge of the New Mexico commercial market and the relationships we are able to foster compared to larger national firms. Our office works with every kind of commercial property; including office, industrial, retail, land, and multifamily.
Our understanding of client needs and concerns not only comes from our experience as an office but also as owners and investors of commercial property ourselves. We have an excellent team in place that is eager to work on your behalf; our results speak for themselves.
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