Courtesy of Layne's Chicken Fingers
The locally founded chicken finger franchise, Layne’s Chicken Fingers, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with plans of expansion across the nation.
The restaurant began in 1994 when Mike Layne opened the doors of the original location on Walton Drive across from Texas A&M University’s campus. After Mike Layne saw a young man — Mike Garratt — tending to the flower beds outside of the restaurant as a generous act, he hired him and the two Mikes quickly became business partners. The two ran the business together until 1999 when Mike Garratt bought sole ownership.
From 1999 to 2017, Mike Garratt ran Layne’s, building the company into a local staple. It wasn’t until 2017 that he was persuaded to sell the company to his long-time friend, Garrett Reed and become a minority business owner. Since the latest acquisition, Garrett and his business partner Matthew O’Reilly have worked with one main goal in mind: to expand the company into a nationwide franchise.
“It was interesting,” Garrett says. “I think it helped because we knew each other [and] we had some history, but it was funny because when we first talked to him he was like, ‘Dude somebody asks me every month to buy this brand for the last 20 years,’ and I’m like ‘Come on Mike let’s do this, we’re going to blow this thing up huge,’ and so finally I don't remember how we ended up convincing him, [probably] playing dominoes at The [Dixie] Chicken or something like that.”
The future of Layne’s is projected to flourish in scale. Garrett says his goal is to steadily increase the franchise every year. Although the company is “Born & Breaded in Texas,” it’s quickly expanding into new territories.
“At the end of this year we’ll have 26 stores open,” Garrett says. “At the end of next year, we should have about 40 or 50 [stores] open, and then [in] 2026, we hope to be opening up 100 a year.”
Garrett says there are several criteria that potential business partners must meet to become franchisees for the soon-to-be-famous restaurant.
“They go through a financial review first … and then we find out what their operations background is,” Garrett says. “You know, do they know how to run restaurants? Have they been in the industry? It’s [also] about cultural fit, so if we fit culturally and they know how to operate … we create a plan and bring them on.”
Since the original Layne’s was opened in the heart of College Station, the company naturally has several franchises operated by Aggies and continues to cherish the “maroon tradition” as part of its origin. Garrett says the franchise has a socially laid-back culture, but a detail-oriented business style when it comes to operating food and management. The restaurant’s Astro Chicken mascot encompasses this yin-yang relationship to a T.
“The chicken is the most ridiculous animal on the farm; it’s kinda carefree, it pretends it can fly, it pecks its head in the sand, it does all this crazy [stuff],” Garrett says. “We took the cool war-era space helmet and we put the chicken inside the space helmet, and the space helmet symbolizes how you run a business, how you treat your management of things, how you treat the food and all that. So, we say, ‘Be laid back like a chicken, be carefree, but when it comes to the business and the food, be perfect like space travel.’”
Garrett says he has built many relationships through his years of service since buying the company. The influx of locations has spread the word and several people have become family to Layne’s. When asked about the most rewarding part of running a company, Garrett says it’s the people he has worked with.
“I’ve worked with some of the most amazing kids,” Garrett says. “I’ve got kids that have worked for us [and] they’ve gone to different universities, different places [and] come back [to] work every summer. I mean they still send me texts and emails. I get texts from kids that worked for me all the time like, ‘Hey, I’m getting married.’”
The Layne’s menu has several enticing entrees with everything from regular or spicy chicken fingers to club, chicken and grilled cheese sandwiches. Grilled wraps are also offered as a healthier alternative. The restaurant also has multiple flavors of shakes and sauces to choose from.
Its classic flavors continue to grow in popularity. In fact, their chicken was such a fan favorite that Garrett says after opening the first store in Wisconsin, one customer loved it so much that he got the Astro Chicken mascot tattooed on his arm.
“Really, I want Layne’s to be a household brand,” Garrett says. I want people to be able to drive down the street, see the Astro Chicken [and] know there’s fantastic food there.”
Those who want to taste the infamous chicken at the up-and-coming restaurants, visit their website at layneschickenfingers.com for information on menu items and locations in the Brazos Valley.
