Riot Chicken is the brainchild of entrepreneur Khalid Al-Qaqa, who took two years to research, develop and hone the Riot Chicken concept.
We wanted to be different, to in effect ‘riot’ against conventional High Street fried chicken shops. We do not offer a mind-boggling number of meal options. We simply offer quality, fresh chicken that customers can choose to have fried or grilled, original or spicy. If they want five wings with two grilled and three fried, that’s what they’ll get.
Any new venture that aims to be different needs support and expertise from those within the industry that know what is and isn’t possible. For Khalid, that advice came through a partnership with Jestic, who he got involved from day one. As Khalid explains:
“Working with Jestic has not just been a customer-supplier relationship, it has been a true partnership without which, we would never have opened our doors. Working closely with Jestic’s Culinary Team in their development kitchen proved invaluable in developing our menu, whilst the Henny Penny fryers we trialled stood out from any other equipment we tested. Jestic helped us to set up the Henny Penny equipment to achieve the quality we were looking for and devised programmes tailored to our menu.”
A key piece of equipment at Riot Chicken is the Henny Penny PFE-500 pressure fryer which is used to cook a variety of items on the menu including chicken on the bone, wings and fillets, all available with Riot’s innovative double coating of batter and breading. Henny Penny’s Evolution Elite open fryers also play a starring role at Riot Chicken – perfectly frying their ‘extra tasty’ selection of sides thanks to the pre-set ‘i-control™’ programmes.
The automatic oil filtration of the Henny Penny fryers was a particularly important feature for Riot as Khalid explains:
Oil is a vital element of any fried chicken concept. Without clean, fresh oil the food will be inferior and the reputation of your business could be damaged. The Henny Penny fryers feature auto-filtration, which means the oil is always clean and as a result the food always looks golden and appetising. Quite simply, Henny Penny fryers have given us the touch, the taste, the look and the quality we wanted.”
“Jestic is a very important stakeholder in the Riot Chicken story. Using Henny Penny equipment and Jestic was a no-brainer. You get the best equipment and unrivalled service from the best distributor. I would whole heartedly recommend Jestic for any new start-up or existing restaurant.”