|Chain Name|Chicken Salad Factory|
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|Food category|Primary: Chicken Salad (surprise!)|
|\# of US Locations|5|
|\# of US States|1|
|Primarily located in|RGV|
|Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024|not ranked (out of 500)|
|Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2025|not ranked (out of 500)|
|Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $16.21, standard dev. $3.03)|89th out of 321 meal reviews|
|Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal|8 (out of 10) / 5 (out of 10)|

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This is a hyper-localized fast food chain that would normally fall below my threshold for review, but I'm doing it anyway, for two reasons.  1. I like it, and 2. It's somewhat of a novelty.

A novelty, you say?  In what way?  Because it is a fast food place based on a rather peculiar item: chicken salad?  No no no, that's not the novelty!  After all, there's already ANOTHER much larger fast food chain, called Chicken Salad Chick, that is already doing just that, VERY successfully, with hundreds of locations across half the continent, and is one of the fastest growing restaurants in America right now.

So, what IS the novelty, then?  The novelty is that this is a fast food chain that was born out of the lower Rio Grande Valley, a part of the state (and the nation) that is not exactly known for opportunities and innovation.  It's a hot, very very humid, very economically depressed string of counties the line up at the very southern tip of Texas.  There are no large cities, just a series of small cities with more than a million people total, but with high unemployment, low wages and just plain not much going for it.  

So, when I just happened to run across this little gem by chance, I had to try it.  I was aware of two other fast food chains with deep south Texas roots - El Pato which is a Taco Bueno style chain, and Stars Drive-In, which is a low-rent version of Sonic.  But here we are with, of all things, chicken salad?  From the RGV?  I'm down for it.   Luckily for me, they did have one location that has escaped the economic black hole of the The Valley, and is a couple hours north in Pleasanton, on the southern extreme edge of the San Antonio sprawl.  

As the name implies, it's all about the chicken salad.  They have \*seventeen\* different varieties to choose from, with a wide selection of sweet to savory, mild to hot.  To get a varied sample, I selected the three-slider sampler combo, and asked them to choose which ones for me to try.  It's a scoop of each on a little slider bun (or croissant), plus a side salad (which I chose the pasta salad).  This is different from Chicken Salad Chick, which has more of 'genteel' Dixie-southern feel to it, ladies in light summer dresses gathering for a weekend tea.  Chicken Salad Factory, on the other hand, is more of a Subway Sandwich atmosphere, where you can choose your salad and then there's the big counter behind glass with dozens of fresh toppings you can add on request (olives? tomatoes? lettuce? peppers? pickles? mustard? ranch?)

Each chicken salad has its own character.  I particularly liked the "Mexican Street Corn" chicken salad, which had a bit of a richer, heartier flavor.  I was also down for the "Buffalo" chicken salad, just a tinge of heat to it.  I was not so fond of the "Creamy Avocado" chicken salad, because I'm not fond of avocadoes overall, but always willing to give it the ol' college try.  

Yeah, I know given that a majority of this particular subreddit appears to be Canadian (by about 2/3rds based on sub stats), the chances of some of y'all making your way down to the deep south armpit of Texas to try Chicken Salad Factory is, well, not that great.  (Then again, in the opposite direction, I never thought I'd have reviewed 6ixty at its lone US location a few miles from where I live, so there you go).  But I still like Chicken Salad Factory regardless, and hope they have a chance to catch on and break out from their RVG shackles.

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(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

Fast Food Review Day 259 - Sampler Combo at Chicken Salad Factory