A Nashville-style hot chicken chain is muscling its way onto one of Cedar Park's busiest restaurant strips, planning to take over a former Jeremiah's Italian Ice shop at 700 E. Whitestone Blvd., Ste. 100. Urban Bird Hot Chicken has not announced a firm opening date, but state filings show renovations are expected to begin October 15 and wrap up by March 1, 2027.
According to Community Impact, the chain specializes in Nashville-style hot chicken sandwiches and tenders served at multiple spice levels, alongside loaded fries and chicken-and-waffles dishes. Founder and owner Brandon Gawthorp told WhatNow that permitting typically takes about six months and construction another three, which puts a realistic public opening around spring 2027 rather than the earlier construction timeline alone might suggest. Gawthorp also said the Cedar Park spot was chosen to fill a geographic gap between Urban Bird's existing Central Texas stores, per the same account.
The new location will not be arriving to a quiet corner of Cedar Park. Just 1.7 miles down the same corridor, Dave's Hot Chicken opened its own restaurant at 1500 E. Whitestone Blvd. earlier this month, marking that chain's second Austin-area location, as previously reported by Hoodline. The two chains will now compete head-to-head for hot chicken customers along one of Williamson County's busiest retail stretches.
From Wingstop Veterans to a Growing Texas Chain
Urban Bird Hot Chicken first opened in 2020, founded by military veterans Brandon Gawthorp and Chantel Fiaschetti in Katy, Texas, after the couple had previously operated 32 Wingstop franchise locations. According to 1851 Franchise, the concept emerged after the pair pivoted away from a failed pizza lease obligation. The Cedar Park store would mark Urban Bird's 30th location across Texas, according to Gawthorp, following a rapid expansion that included the chain's 24th Texas location opening in Sunset Valley in June and an established store already running on University Boulevard in Round Rock.
That growth has been fueled in part by a franchise program the company launched in 2025, with startup investment costs ranging from $236,000 to $837,800 per location and average unit net sales reported at $1.67 million, Hoodline previously reported in its coverage of the chain's national expansion push. Franchise terms include an ongoing 6% gross revenue royalty fee plus a 1% brand development fee.
Halal Chicken and a Kitchen Built for Consistency
Urban Bird markets its chicken as all-natural and halal-certified, with no antibiotics or added hormones used across its menu, a differentiator the chain leans on in suburban markets with specific dietary preferences, per WhatNow's reporting. To keep that quality consistent as it scales across dozens of stores, the company has adopted automated breading equipment that cuts breading waste by 13% and fryer oil usage by 5% compared to hand-breading, according to a case study published by AyrKing. The automation is designed to let newly hired kitchen staff maintain the same texture across locations without years of hands-on training.
One of the chain's signature menu items actually traces back to a supply-chain hiccup. When early chicken suppliers delivered cuts smaller than Urban Bird's jumbo tender standards, the company repurposed that meat into loaded fries dishes rather than waste it, a decision detailed in a Buzzsprout-hosted podcast interview that helped protect the young chain's profitability as it expanded. That dish has since become one of Urban Bird's top sellers.
A Corridor Cedar Park Keeps Building Up
The 700 E. Whitestone Blvd. property sits inside Village at Cedar Park, an 88,878-square-foot commercial shopping center managed by real estate firm Weitzman, according to CommercialSearch. The center houses a mix of retail and service businesses along the corridor, which has become Williamson County's primary retail strip. East Whitestone Boulevard has attracted a wave of major commercial development recently, including a $5.7 million, 12,166-square-foot Trader Joe's that broke ground in July, as Hoodline detailed in its earlier coverage of the corridor's growth.
Whether Urban Bird can carve out its own following against an established rival just up the road remains to be seen, but the chain's rapid statewide expansion suggests it isn't shying away from competitive markets. For now, Cedar Park diners will have to wait for permits and construction to wrap before finding out if the city has room for two hot chicken chains on one street.
