A Texas fried chicken chain best known around College Station is finally coming to California, with its first restaurants targeted for Sacramento and Placer counties. Layne's Chicken Fingers has signed a deal to open a dozen locations in the region, led by a Granite Bay franchisee who has spent more than three decades building restaurant businesses across Northern and Central California.
That franchisee is Tariq Munir, who according to WhatNow has franchised restaurants for more than 35 years and currently operates 31 IHOP locations stretching from Redding to Bakersfield and into the Bay Area. Munir signed the agreement to bring 12 Layne's restaurants to California, and he's doing it alongside his brother, Ali Khan, who serves as Layne's operations manager and is based in the Fresno area. Khan brings more than 30 years of restaurant industry experience of his own, according to the same report, and personally visited every Layne's location in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to vet the brand's operational quality before signing on, according to 1851 Franchise.
Munir isn't new to the fast-casual game. He formerly operated Johnny Rockets franchises and still runs Pinkberry frozen yogurt locations, per the WhatNow report. Munir secured his Northern California IHOP development rights back in the 1990s, while Khan worked his way up from a teenage restaurant employee to an operator in Central California, according to 1851 Franchise.
Where the First California Locations Might Land
The brothers are eyeing sites in Roseville, Elk Grove, Sacramento's Arden area, Clovis, and northern Fresno County, WhatNow reports. Layne's plans to open its first California locations across Sacramento, Placer, Fresno, and Monterey counties, and the pair are scouting second-generation restaurant spaces before considering ground-up builds later. Munir told WhatNow that the first California locations will likely open in early or mid-2027, and he plans to open 10 Layne's locations within the chain's first 10 years in the state.
Layne's Chicken Fingers CEO Garrett Reed said the brand had always planned to enter California, according to WhatNow, and he specifically wanted an experienced operator to lead the expansion — landing on Munir. Reed and business partner Matthew O'Reilly acquired Layne's in 2017. Layne's currently operates 53 locations across nine states and is pushing toward 75 by the end of 2026, per the WhatNow report.
A Cult Texas Favorite Finally Heads West
Layne's got its start in 1994 in College Station, Texas, near Texas A&M University — two years before rival Raising Cane's launched, according to MySA. The chain built a cult-like local following as an “Aggieland” favorite for decades under founder Mike Layne, who sold his interest in 1997, before the brand's current leadership finally began national franchising in 2021. Layne's serves certified halal chicken alongside hand-spun milkshakes, grilled wraps, and six proprietary dipping sauces including jalapeño ranch and smoky Layne's sauce, according to Tasting Table.
What sets the chain apart operationally, Munir said, is that Layne's hand cuts and hand dips each piece of chicken rather than relying on machines — a distinction he said helps set the brand apart. The chain reached its 50th open restaurant milestone nationwide in July, opening that store in Lubbock, Texas, and reported signing 24 new franchise agreements during the first half of 2026, according to 1851 Franchise. Layne's traditional franchised locations averaged more than $2.2 million in gross revenues in 2025, with an estimated initial unit investment ranging from $481,500 to $1,555,000, per the outlet's review of the chain's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document.
California's $20 Wage Mandate Looms Over the Rollout
Entering California means Munir and Khan will be operating under Assembly Bill 1228, which took effect in April 2024 and requires fast-food workers at chains with 60 or more locations nationwide to earn at least $20 per hour, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations. The law also created a Fast Food Council with power to consider future wage and workplace standard adjustments. An August 2026 study from the Cato Institute found that the $20 wage floor led to a 3.3% to 3.6% increase in food-away-from-home prices across California metro areas between September 2023 and December 2024.
Even with those added costs, the fast-casual chicken segment has kept growing. Foot traffic to quick-service and fast-casual chicken chains rose 4.3% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2024, outperforming the broader quick-service and fast-casual dining sectors, according to Placer.ai. But growth hasn't been frictionless industry-wide: Technomic Top 500 data published by Restaurant Business in May showed fast-casual chicken chain sales grew 10.6% in 2025 while unit counts grew 13.1%, resulting in a 2.5% median decline in per-location sales volume — a sign that rapid expansion across the category is starting to outpace demand at some individual stores.
Layne's leadership has said it targets suburban corridors, college-adjacent populations, and middle-to-higher-income demographics, aiming to keep prime operational costs around 55%, according to Forbes. Whether that formula translates to Sacramento and Placer counties won't be clear until the first restaurants open their doors, but for now, the Texas chain's California ambitions rest with two brothers who spent decades learning the region's restaurant business from the inside.
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