FSR June 2023

PICKLEBALL

UNPLUGGED, FULLY ENGAGED If they play once, they will come again attests Kelli Alldredge, a former com petitive tennis player and one of three managing partners at Chicken N Pickle. She started as a customer when owner David Johnson opened the first Chicken N Pickle in 2016 in North Kan sas City, Missouri. She, Johnson, and Brad Clark, the third managing part ner, had zero restaurant experience pre Chicken N Pickle, but like their guests, they thrive on the social camaraderie of pickleball. “You play once and fall in love with it, and you meet people from all walks of life. There could be four people on the court from four different decades hav ing a competitive game,” she says. The smaller court is “easier on the body” than tennis, and the compact size contributes to the sense of com munity—talking and bantering hap pens naturally during matches, which typically last 15 minutes so a group can easily rotate through four matches in a one-hour reservation.

The menu at both concepts will fea ture smoked proteins. Camp Pickle will bring together elements of Mexican and camp cooking; Jaguar Bolera will com bine Mexican and Southern influences. Thompson will begin rolling out the two concepts later this year, with Jaguar Bolera opening in Raleigh, North Caro lina, in December, followed by the first Camp Pickle in Denver in the summer of 2024. “A second Camp Pickle will open toward the end of 2024, and then we’ll have a regular cadence of opening four to five a year,” he says. Deals are underway in Atlanta; Indianapolis; New Orleans; Huntsville, Alabama; Nashville, Tennes see; and Dallas and Austin, Texas. If pickleball eatertainment seems like a novel concept, think again: It’s the natural evolution of a consumer surge. Every state and all Canadian provinces have pickleball venues, and the U.S. Pick leball Association, with a membership exceeding 70,000, reports there were more than 44,000 courts across some 10,700 North American locations at the start of this year.

“YOU PLAY ONCE AND FALL IN LOVE WITH IT, AND YOU MEET PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE. THERE COULD BE FOUR PEOPLE ON THE COURT FROM FOUR DIFFERENT DECADES HAVING A COMPETITIVE GAME.”

CHICKEN N PICKLE (4)

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM