‘Bring back the tendies.’ Students upset with restaurant push for Georgia billboard
Four high school seniors from New Jersey will do “anything” to get their favorite menu item back at a restaurant chain, including buying a billboard in Georgia, they say.
Bergen County students Ajay Sachdev, Viren Bhatia, Ethan Donovan and Ryan You organized a campaign they’re calling, “Bring Back the Tendies.”
They started an Instagram account, a GoFundMe page and a change.org petition dedicated to convincing Houston’s to add the “flying chicken platter” to its menu once again.
The students also created the hashtag #boycotthoustons “until the tenders return.”
“I’ve been eating Houston’s chicken tenders since I was like, 2-years-old,” Viren told McClatchy News. “Then over time I started recruiting all my friends to come and eat with me. We all love chicken tenders, and [Houston’s] are clearly the best.”
The GoFundMe is dedicated to raising money to buy a billboard near the restaurant’s Atlanta-West Paces location, so the company can’t help but notice.
“We also were thinking, if we have more funds somehow, that we’d actually hire people in chicken costumes to go to several of their locations and their corporate office to make our movement known,” Ajay said. “We’re just trying to make them know that ... we can do anything to get them back.”
The change.org petition has garnered 2,650 signatures, the GoFundMe has raised $2,876 and the Instagram page has 3,867 followers.
The campaign got 405 people to email Houston’s parent company, Hillstone Restaurant Group, demanding the return of the tendies, the organizers said.
Hillstone did not immediately return a request for comment from McClatchy News.
The students said they received an email from Houston’s, explaining the company does not plan on bringing back the tenders. But that hasn’t deterred the students.
“We won’t stop, basically,” Ajay said.