Since opening its third venue in 2020, Chicken N Pickle has rapidly expanded, now operating nine locations across the US. This accelerated growth is just the beginning for the pickleball entertainment chain, as it looks to make its mark beyond the Midwest with plans to open 16 venues by mid-2025.
“We do plan to keep going, we’re not done at 16,” Chicken N Pickle president Kelli Alldredge told NoVolleys. “Later this year in October we are opening in Henderson, Nevada. We’re just starting to spread our concept to the coasts. […] Our company is growing at a very fast pace. Everyone wants a Chicken N Pickle now.”
Dave Johnson founded Chicken N Pickle, opening its first location in Kansas City in 2016. The first eight Chicken N Pickle venues were all built along the I-35 interstate highway across Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. The company’s expansion west got underway last summer with the opening of its Glendale, Arizona location.
Becoming the Topgolf of Pickleball
Executives at Chicken N Pickle openly express their admiration for Topgolf’s successful fusion of golf, dining, and entertainment. This model has become a benchmark that entrepreneurs in various sports industries are striving to emulate.
For its part, Chicken N Pickle combines a restaurant and sports bar with pickleball courts and yard games like shuffleboard, cornhole, bocce, and jenga.
Topgolf has built 80 locations worldwide, and was acquired by Callaway for $2.6 billion in 2021 to become a publicly-traded company.
“We’ve become very close to the Topgolf team, we admire them and we want to be them,” Alldredge said. “We hope to grow like they’ve grown.”
Topgolf’s venues are embedded with golf simulators, swing-tracking cameras and LED screens, but its reliance on sports tech is one aspect that Chicken N Pickle is not trying to replicate.
“Our properties are very high touch, low tech. There’s no technology on our pickleball courts. We laugh a lot in our office, let’s remember it’s a plastic ball and a paddle,” said Alldredge. “Ours is more that old school feel where Topgolf is quite frankly more of an advanced experience.”
Chicken N Pickle makes money off its food service, alcohol sales, pickleball court usage, and events hosted at its properties. Fees generally range from $20 or $45 per hour to reserve courts at Chicken N Pickle locations.
Working to Grow the Game
Part of the company’s roadmap to success involves exposing more people to the game and teaching them how to play it.
Certified coaching professionals offer private and group pickleball lessons at Chicken N Pickle locations. The company has also made a concerted effort to grow the game at the grassroots level, hosting summer camps, clinics and tournaments for youth players.
“We go into a lot of schools and do a lot of pickleball assemblies at grade schools,” Alldredge said. “We do run junior tournaments at Chicken N Pickle. [Before] 2020, we had never sold out. Once 2020 hit, our kids’ camps exploded and they have not stopped. We are very dedicated to our programming for our junior pickleball players.”
The APP Tour’s Next Gen Series is hosted in partnership with Chicken N Pickle. Male and female players ages 16 to 23 can sign up for free to compete for prize money in three-day tournaments held across Chicken N Pickle locations.
Chicken N Pickle was also the title sponsor of the PPA Tour’s Vulcan Kansas City Open last year. The National Pickleball League, a senior professional tour for ages 50 and older, also hosts league events at Chicken N Pickle venues.
What’s more, various Chicken N Pickle locations have hosted events geared towards Down syndrome and autism communities. The accessibility of the sport is why so many are bullish on Chicken N Pickle, including star athlete investors Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Jack Sock.
“We want to feel like the coolest backyard you’ve ever been in. We want to create an atmosphere where whether you’re playing pickleball or not you just feel comfortable, you feel like you belong,” Alldredge said. “It’s so inclusive—anyone can play pickleball. I think the inclusive side of the sport is what has moved it so forward so fast.”
Coming to a Baseball Stadium Near You?
Pickleball4America, which recently rebanded itself as Pickle4, hosted its inaugural Ballpark Series last July at Fenway Park in Boston and Oracle Park in San Francisco. Pickle4’s founders include Bob Bowman, the former CEO of MLB Advanced Media.
The Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants aren’t the only MLB teams welcoming pickleball into their ballparks. The San Diego Padres will unveil temporary pickleball courts later this year as part of renovations to Petco Park. Chicken N Pickle has already had discussions with their hometown MLB team about potentially bringing pickleball to Kauffman Stadium.
“We actually have talked to the Kansas City Royals about that. I think that’s a fabulous idea and I do think it’s a huge opportunity,” Alldredge said.
