Slim Chickens in Warner Robins has an opening date. It’s the first Middle Georgia store.

Chris Benner got his start in the restaurant industry when he was 14 at an ice cream shop of a well-known national brand.

Today, with more than 40 years of restaurant management experience under his belt, he and his business partner Tim Stokes are launching their latest franchise brand in Warner Robins.

The new Slim Chickens at 4030 Watson Blvd. opens Sept. 9.

The fast-casual chain is known for its fresh chicken tenders and wings cooked to order and multiple house-made dipping sauces.

Under Trident Chicken LLC, Benner, the president/owner, and Stokes, the financial manager, expect to open 20 Slim Chickens restaurants in 10 years with the Warner Robins store being the first.

Their corporation has development rights for Slim Chickens in Middle Georgia around Macon and Warner Robins, in northeast Tennessee, the western portion of North Carolina and the western corner of South Carolina.

They’re already looking in North Macon for a future Slim Chickens location, but they haven’t found anything suitable yet and there’s no timeline, Benner said. They also plan a Perry store.

Slim Chickens, Warner Robins

The Warner Robins location was “a real estate opportunity that just kind of fell into our lap,” Benner said.

The original operator apparently backed out.

“We were already trying to become Slim Chickens franchisees, and then a Slim Chickens building that’s already built and ready to go becomes available, and we were approached about becoming the tenants for that building. So, it was kind of like all the planets lined up just perfectly.

“Needless to say, Slim Chickens granted us our franchisee status, and here we go. We’re off to the races to get this restaurant up and running and get rolling,” he said.

Why Slim Chickens?

“I guess that whole chicken segment is, like, really cluttered, and we knew that we wanted to be with one of the new players in the chicken scene,” Benner said. “And frankly, Slim Chickens has the best chicken there is.

“We just wanted to be with the very best product out there and then bolster up that delicious chicken with fantastic hospitality and lightning fast speed, and just be the best of the best.”

In addition to hand-breaded tenders and fried wings, Slim Chickens offers sandwiches, mac bowl meals, wraps, salads, and chicken and waffles. Tenders are also served grilled. The brand is also known for its sweets, including a chocolate brownie pudding jar.

“I guess my go-to is what we call the loaded buffalo mac and cheese,” Benner said. “So it’s our macaroni and cheese with our chicken tenders diced in there with buffalo sauce, fried onions and chives. It’s over the top.”

Scooping ice cream

His first restaurant job was at age 14 at Baskin-Robbins in the summer of 1984.

“I just got hired as an ice cream scooper that summer and by the fall, I had keys to the shop, and I was closing the shop by myself and kind of moving on up in the world,” said Benner, who also worked two newspaper routes and mowed lawns.

Benner worked at restaurants on and off through high school. After graduation, he worked at what was then a Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant that was part of a national chain.

“I was working there to raise money for college, and then I felt like I had enough, and went off to college and just kind of got one semester under my belt and just really wasn’t feeling the vibe of college, and also needed to raise some more funding,” Benner said.

“So, I went back into the restaurant business and just decided that was for me. I wasn’t going to go back to college. I was just going to kind of work my way up in the restaurant business.”

Benner spent his early childhood in then war-torn El Salvador where his father was a missionary from 1977 to 1982. The previous year, his family lived in Costa Rica where his dad attended a missionary language institute.

“I learned Spanish before anyone else in my family because I learned it out playing in the streets with all the kids,” he said.

His family moved back to Denver in 1982, and that’s where Benner lived until 1990 when he started moving around the country for his restaurant career.

“I was that young guy that went anywhere they needed some help, or they needed a manager. I could be there the next day because I didn’t own a whole lot and I lived in apartments and I’d just throw everything in my truck and go wherever they told me they needed me,” he said.

Today, Benner lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. That’s the address for all three of his franchise companies but everyone works from home, he said.

His first franchise company, Trident Holdings LLC, has 57 Capt. D’s locations across nine states in the southeast. He, Stokes and Stokes’ father, the late Ed Stokes, founded Trident Holdings in 2015.

Benner and Tim Stokes’ other company, Trident Burgers LLC, has five Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in southcentral Kentucky and Middle Tennessee and development rights to build a dozen more in Middle Tennessee. The corporation was formed earlier this year, along with Trident Chicken LLC.

Benner’s restaurant industry experience also includes prior roles with brands like Famous Dave’s BBQ and with Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s.

Grand opening

During the grand opening week at the new Slim Chickens, Benner is encouraging guests to donate a dollar to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation that the franchise will match.

The charitable organization was started by the brothers and sisters of New York firefighter Stephen Siller, who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was in one of the Twin Towers when it collapsed.

The foundation helps families of fallen first responders and military members, as well as catastrophically disabled veterans.

The new Slim Chickens will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The first Slim Chickens opened in 2003 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the brand started franchising in 2014. There are 250 locations in 34 states and more than 50 locations in the United Kingdom. The brand’s goal is to grow over 600 restaurants during the next decade.