A former McDonald's building along Route 94 in Weldon Spring has been reborn as Slaps Hot Chicken, a Nashville-style hot chicken restaurant that opened in June 2026 with a spice menu running from no heat at all up to a Carolina Reaper blend that requires gloves to handle. The 5,000-square-foot restaurant sits next to a Zephyr Express gas station at 5950 MO-94 and seats 44 people, with room for both sit-down and to-go orders.
The restaurant is owned by Oday Bisharat, Safi Hasan, and Sharif Hasan, and it prepares all of its chicken according to halal guidelines, according to Sauce Magazine. That halal-first approach lines up with a broader trend documented by Research and Markets, which found that halal-certified dining increasingly draws non-Muslim customers who associate the standard with food safety, hygiene, and ethical animal care. Industry estimates from the IMARC Group put the U.S. halal food market at $733.6 billion, fueled in part by an estimated 3.5 million Muslim residents nationwide as of 2024.
A Menu Built Around Heat and Choice
Diners at Slaps pick their own spice blend, with options that top out at the Reaper blend, made from dehydrated Carolina Reaper peppers, cayenne, and other secret ingredients the restaurant hasn't disclosed. The Carolina Reaper itself held the Guinness World Record for hottest chili pepper on the planet from 2013 until late 2023, averaging between 1.57 million and 1.64 million Scoville Heat Units, according to Guinness World Records.
The core menu features chicken tenders, sliders, and chicken and waffles, plus signature items like fries, mac and cheese, and fried ravioli. The mac and cheese comes loaded with the restaurant's spice blend, housemade Slap's sauce, and marinated chicken, while the jumbo slider pairs coleslaw, halal chicken, and Slap sauce. In a nod to St. Louis food culture, the restaurant also serves crispy fried ravioli loaded with hot chicken, melted cheese, and signature sauce, according to a Facebook post from the restaurant. Sides include mozzarella sticks, mac and cheese bites, and Belgian waffles, and dessert cups come in banana pudding and strawberry cheesecake flavors.
Convenience Meets Entertainment
Slaps kept the drive-thru lane from its fast-food predecessor, and it still offers dine-in, takeout, and third-party delivery app options, per a Facebook update from the restaurant. The building itself carries some fast-food history: it previously housed a McDonald's before Slaps moved in, per the Sauce Magazine report. Inside, the restaurant has added something its old occupant never had — a glow-in-the-dark mini golf area alongside its regular seating.
Slaps is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Before opening, the restaurant advertised starting pay of $16 an hour for cooks, prep staff, cashiers, and drive-thru workers, according to a hiring post on Facebook.
Joining a Crowded Regional Hot Chicken Scene
Slaps enters a St. Louis market that has already embraced the Nashville hot chicken trend. Chuck's Hot Chicken now operates five locations across the metro area, including one in nearby O'Fallon, Missouri, according to the chain's own location listings. St. Charles County also has deep roots in fried chicken more broadly — a local real estate and community analysis from the Chad Wilson Group noted that King Edwards Fried Chicken, founded in 1966, remains one of the county's established institutions even as newer concepts like Slaps move in.
Weldon Spring's demographics suggest plenty of local buying power to support the new venture. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 5,301 residents as of July 2025, with a median household income of $158,548 in 2024 — well above state and national averages, giving the suburban Route 94 corridor a built-in customer base for the new spot's mix of extreme spice, halal preparation, and after-dinner mini golf.
