Burger King operator tries his luck with Slim Chickens

The former second-largest Burger King franchisee Al Cabrera has signed a 60-unit deal with Slim Chickens, seeking to open 40 restaurants in Indiana and 20 in southeast Florida.

It costs about $1.1- to $3.4 million to open a single Slim Chickens restaurant.

The 60-unit deal is the biggest franchise agreement ever for Slim Chickens, the fast-growing chicken concept across Indiana and in southeast Florida.

Since selling his Heartland Food Corporation’s 240 Burger King restaurants to GSO Capital Partners in 2006, Cabrera had been involved in various real estate, hotel, and tech company projects.

Cabrera still owns six Burger Kings in Florida.

When a friend put the Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Slim Chickens on his radar, Cabrera researched the brand and was impressed.

Cabrera stressed it’s the entire management team’s expertise made him comfortable signing such an extensive development agreement.

He also liked that Slim Chickens is still a smaller brand with about 150 locations open, making those on the leadership team aware of what’s going on with everyone around them.

Cabrera noted he did “a lot of due diligence,” including studying the competition, examining the consumer set, and doing a “deep dive” on the cost to open.

He added that he wasn’t worried about the competition, saying Slim’s superior quality would stand out.