Move Over Donuts, A New Chicken Restaurant Is Opening In Rockford Soon

The other day I was driving down East State Street and I noticed that the All Day Donut located across from Chuck E. Cheese had closed. When did that happen? In 2020 apparently, during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. (How did I miss that one?)

Now that the building has been sitting vacant for about 2 years, new owners have in fast casual chicken dishes and sandwiches poured a lot of time, money, and energy into the space as they get it ready to reopen as a Chicken Hop restaurant.

What Is Chicken Hop Restaurant?

According to the Rockford Register Star, Chicken Hop specializes in "fast casual chicken dishes and sandwiches", and will offer dine-in, carryout, and drive-thru services.

After scouring Google for more information on Chicken Hop, I came up with nothing. No official Facebook page, no website, no franchises in other cities, nothing. So, now I'm assuming this new restaurant is a unique addition to Rockford which is kind of cool. Have you ever heard of Chicken Hop before?

When Will Chicken Hop Be Ready to Open?

If you drive down East State Street today you will see Chicken Hop signage and a big "Opening Soon" banner on the windows, but no official opening date has been announced yet. (I couldn't find any job listings for Chicken Hop yet either during my Google stalking session).

Karl Franzen, Rockford's director of community and economic development, recently told the RRStar;

we’ve had some mechanicals, some plumbing and some trade specific permits, as soon as those are finished on their end and inspected and approved, they should be good to go.

At this point, we might not know when we can start Chicken Hop-ing, but I'm willing to bet it will be sooner rather than later!