Southern flavor, local opportunity: Texas based Layne’s Chicken Fingers seeks Fayetteville franchisee

By Faith Hatton, posted Sep 4, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

Photo provided by: Layne’s Chicken Fingers

An opportunity to bring a new fried chicken experience to Fayetteville is now open to business owners.

Franchise Layne’s Chicken Fingers is looking for a well vetted franchise owner in the Fayetteville area with a goal to bring at least five new locations to the area.

Started in College Station, Texas by Founder Mike Layne in 1994, the franchise is now looking to continue expanding into new territories. The brand is currently present in nine states nationwide with at least 34 locations as of August 2025. In 2017 the brand was bought by business partners Garrett Reed and Matthew O’Reilly who now serve as CEO and franchise liaison, respectively.

In 2017 the brand was bought by business partners Garrett Reed (pictured) and Matthew O’Reilly who now serve as CEO and franchise liaison, respectively.
Photo provided by: Layne’s Chicken Fingers

“We spent the first couple of years creating a franchisable brand. The original owner, Mike [Layne], is still working with us and by about 2020, we started franchising and expanding. In 2024 we really started to grow, we opened six stores. This year, we'll open 22-23 stores, and so the growth, it's always been planned, but it was just us getting the infrastructure, getting all the training, and all of that kind of stuff,” shared Reed.

With a menu featuring their perfected namesake chicken tenders and secret sauce, wraps, sandwiches and shakes, the brand thinks it will be a perfect addition on the east coast.

“There's very few chicken tender places. So the difference is the tender. It's the best piece of meat. We create our chicken that has more of a crispy, more traditional fried chicken feel to it… So when you eat our tenders, it's more like eating your traditional bone piece of chicken without the bone,” shared Reed.

The brand is currently present in nine states nationwide with at least 34 locations as of August 2025.
Graphic provided by: Layne’s Chicken Fingers

But Reed shared that not everyone is cut out to sell Layne’s signature brand. They're looking for a franchisee with restaurant experience who will be able to handle operating multiple locations at once.

“Our goal is to sell out the United States by 2030, but it’s difficult because we have to have the right partner. We want people with (quick service restaurant) QSR experience. We don’t sign one- store deals,” shared Reed. “We only sign on people that have chops. The smallest territory that we’d sell is five stores, so we’re typically selling in the 15- 20 store territories.”

Franchise opportunities range from $451,500 to $1,050,000 with different buildout options available and training is provided by the Layne’s Franchise team. Learn more about franchising with Layne’s Chicken Fingers here.

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