It's about to get spicy in Rochester
Mar. 14—ROCHESTER — The chicken competition in Rochester is heating up.
Nashville Coop
, a popular Twin Cities spicy chicken brand that started as a food truck, is slated to open
a Med City restaurant
on March 20 at 102 20th St. SE. It is located on the west end of a commercial center on the prominent corner of South Broadway and 20th Street Southeast.
Nashville Coop, the creation of brothers Arif and Kamal Mohamed with their father Mohamed Omer, has a small menu built solely around chicken strips and two versions of chicken "sammiches." Customers can choose five levels of spiciness ranging from "MN Nice" to "Cluckin' Hot." The Rochester location will also introduce a new Nashville Coop drink — a grape slushie.
While the restaurant has Nashville in the name, the flavor goes beyond the American south with Ethiopian spices added to the batter mix as well as a secret Jamaican pepper in the sauce.
"It's not your standard spicy chicken, but it's still got a Nashville twang to it. It's really almost as if Ethiopia and Nashville had a baby," said Nick McLaughlin.
McLaughlin is a majority co-owner of the franchise along with Marcus Sherels, former Minnesota Vikings defensive back/punt returner, and Twin Cities restaurateur Nabil Ghebre. Tyler Cain and Chris Murray are also invested in the eatery.
Speed and efficiency will be a focus for the new chicken shop to match the new expectations of diners used to ordering food for delivery, he said. It will have a drive-thru window and will have self-order stations in the restaurant, though there will also still be people at the counter to take orders.
A team of 20 to 25 employees will staff the restaurant to keep things moving quickly.
To set itself apart, Nashville Coop will be open later than most Rochester restaurants.
"Rochester doesn't have food to eat after 10 p.m., so that's why we're open until 11 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. It's been a big thing that no chicken joints have food after 10 p.m.," added McLaughlin.
Jeff Kiger tracks business action in Rochester and southeastern Minnesota every day in "Heard on the Street." Send tips to
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