Thursday, November 2, 2023

[ALERT] Atlanta Chicken Chain Acquires Atlanta Bakery

Chicken Salad Chick Wednesday announced the acquisition of  Atlanta-based Piece of Cake bakery. Terms of the deal between the 245-unit fast casual chicken salad chain and the 10-unit bakery chain were not disclosed.  Chicken Salad Chick, which moved its headquarters from Auburn to Atlanta in 2021, intends to bolster its dessert menu with Piece of Cake’s offerings.  

Piece of Cake was founded in 1985 by Melissa Bunnen Jernigan, who will continue to serve as the company’s “Cakexpert.”  The bakery is known for its cakes (made from scratch using family recipes) but also features a variety of cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and cheese straws.   

"Over the years, Piece of Cake cakes have been a mainstay at the table as our family celebrated holidays and special occasions together," Chicken Salad Chick CEO Scott Deviney said in a statement. "Melissa and her team have consistently offered the best cakes in the business, and I am pleased to soon have the opportunity to bring them to all our Chicken Salad Chick guests."

Chicken Salad Chick is headquartered at Overlook II in Vinings, just down the road from Piece of Cake's shop at the Riverview Shopping Center along Cobb Parkway.  

All 120 Atlanta area Piece of Cake employees are expected to be retained following the acquisition.  As part of the deal, Chicken Salad Chick plans to bring the bakery's cakes to its restaurants, where they will be featured as the signature dessert offerings following successful market tests. Both whole and by-the-slice cakes will be on the menu and available for dine-in, takeout, digital orders, and drive-thru. 

Chicken Salad Chick's current dessert, Buttercream Frosted Flower Cookies, are produced by Cheryl's Cookies, a division of 1-800-Flowers.  It remains to be seen how the Piece of Cake acquisition will affect this offering.  

"After nearly 40 years, it seems like the right time to pursue this opportunity with Chicken Salad Chick," Jernigan said in a statement. "Both brands began in home kitchens – Piece of Cake in my Atlanta condo and Chicken Salad Chick in Stacy Brown's home in Auburn." 

Chicken Salad Chick and its independent franchisees operate 40 restaurants across Georgia including about a dozen in metro Atlanta.  

Does this acquisition surprise you?  Are you a fan of Chicken Salad Chick?  Who in Atlanta do you think makes the best chicken salad?

Please share your thoughts below 

19 comments:

lbk said...

Sounds like a good merger of locally owned companies. Love Piece of Cake!

Anonymous said...

I like it!

Anonymous said...

I love Chicken Salad Chick especially the Alpharetta Northpoint location. It will be interesting to see if they replace the Cheryl's cookie with something from Piece of Cake. Hopefully this will be a win win for both companies.

Anonymous said...

Will Piece of Cake stores still be open?

Anonymous said...

Two overrated companies kiss and become one over priced restaurant. The chicken salad is okay and the cake is good at Best but over priced. Next

Anonymous said...

Hopefully they’ll bring the quality back to Piece of Cake. The last two cakes I bought there, at nearly $75 each, were very dry, eaten the day after pickup.

Anonymous said...

Piece of Cake makes great cake but their shops lack ambiance, have weird hours and poor merchandising. I think they could really help them improve and scale the business.

Anonymous said...

I love ❤️ Chicken Salad Chick!! I love Piece of Cake! This looks like a great combination !

Anonymous said...

Please open a Chicken Salad Chick near Decatur. We need one on the East side of Atlanta!

Anonymous said...

This seems like very good merger. Very logical path forward for both companies. They would be silly to not continue growing the piece of cake brand. Also, I bet they start manufacturing their own cookies. The cookies actually are fantastic. Chicken salad is OK. I think there is all the different flavors they infuse which appeal to all kinds of people. I prefer my chicken salad more on the plain side with some grapes and almonds And celery.

Pressley Pages said...

I wish they would open a store in Tucker!!

Anonymous said...

Side by side stores with the other being call Cake Chick?

Anonymous said...

This seems logical. I love CSC and Piece of Cake used to be good, but they last several times I have bought cake or cupcakes there, they have been overpriced, dry, and tasted of pure sugar. Their quality control went down when they expanded beyond that little shack space in Buckhead, years ago.

Anonymous said...

demz ‘employees’ beez different than when they first opened… quality down? Coincidence?

Anonymous said...

Cornbread cake iced with chicken salad!

Anonymous said...

I have eaten at both chains and was not that impressed with the food or service.

I think the best Chicken Salad was made by CFA and that item has been removed from their menu.

Wish them success in the merger.

Anonymous said...

I love both of these establishments. CSC has quality and consistent recipes and i get cake by the slice all the time at the piece of cake in the Johns Creek area. The cake has been soft in my experience, although I did have a dry experience during the pandemic. Anyway, this seems like a good merger.

Anonymous said...

I love both of these places! I wish they’d open one on the east side of town, Northlake area would be so awesome!

Anonymous said...

Racist

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