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Popping up from Capitol Hill, Ethan Stowell ready to hatch ‘pasture raised’ chicken sandwich chain

 

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(Image: Mt. Joy)

Ethan Stowell moved past being small long ago. His company now operates around 20 Seattle restaurants including Tavolata and Rione XIII outposts on Capitol Hill. Now, he’s ready to go super big, with plans being hatched with Seattle telemedicine tech dude Robbie Cape to create Mt. Joy, a 1,000 or so location “pasture raised” chicken sandwich chain that is also somehow environmentally friendly.

The long march to global super green chicken conquest will start on Capitol Hill — but only temporarily. Of course, with plans for thousands of Mt. Joys, odds are Stowell’s chicken sandwiches will eventually be back on the Hill.

But first, an October pop-up at E Pike’s Tavolata. Take it away, Seattle Met:

Mt. Joy chief marketing officer Pat Snavely says the company hopes to expand rapidly: The more sandwiches you sell, the more pastured chickens are out there improving our soil—and, by extension, our atmosphere. But tastiness is key. “If it’s not the best chicken sandwich people have ever had, they’re not going to care as much.”

The E Pike location of Stowell’s Tavolata Italian concept will give over to the chicken fried pop-up for three nights, October 14th to 16th, that “will give the public its first glimpse of the actual food that will drive this ambitious project” and give the Mt. Joy team “a chance to get public feedback on its menu of fried chicken sandwiches, milkshakes, and french fries with five housemade dipping sauces.”

Mt. Joy’s focus on “pasture raised” poultry at chain scale, meanwhile, could ruffle a few feathers. The term has been at the center of lawsuits over the unregulated label and wrangled about in the industry.  “We need to be a household name — hundreds, if not thousands, of stores,” the company rep told Seattle Eater. “We need to be like the next Chipotle, but with a whole higher standard for transparency, sourcing, and quality of food.”

As for the chicken sandwich pop-up, Stowell has kept his restaurants and Capitol Hill joints busy with experiments over the years including recent sessions trialing wagyu duck fat burgers and chicken parmesan sandwich concepts that, for now, apparently, won’t be lined up to become major chains.

The Mt. Joy pop-up takes place October 14th through 16th at Tavolata, 501 E Pike. Learn more at mtjoy.com.

 

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cap_hill_rez
cap_hill_rez
1 year ago

Funny how most of the articles written about this pop-up reference the Marketing Officer Snavely and not the farmers, chefs, or servers that really make all this possible. Good on them for the sustainable chicken but what about the build-out of the numerous locations they plan? What about the wages for their employees and can it be sustained with what will need to be charged per chix sandwich?

This is a noble idea but likely to fail as it seems like it’s driven more by the need to expand a market. How about just open one store, make a great sandwich (that’s reasonably priced), and pay your employees a living wage without the reliance on tips? If that works with the buying public, THEN think about expansion.

cellbell
cellbell
1 year ago

Can we talk about the bs 4% surcharge for “rising cost of goods and non-labor expenses” hidden at the bottom of the menu for all Ethan Stowell restaurants? Raise your prices honestly if you need to, this is just a gross way to handle it, especially when it’s not even going to staff.