Tenders on Wheels - Slim Chickens opens its first UK drive-thru

Fried chicken, now with a speaker box. Slim Chickens is opening its first UK drive-thru this month at Broughton Shopping Park in Flintshire, Wales, Restaurant Online reports. Boparan Restaurant Group, which holds the UK master franchise, says the site will be the model for more.

Drive-thru customers get the full menu: buttermilk-marinated tenders breaded to order, wings, sandwiches, wraps, salads, hand-spun shakes, Texas Toast and all 15 house sauces. Boparan already runs more than 80 Slim Chickens across the UK, and earlier this year it opened the brand's first UK airport site with The Restaurant Group Concessions.

It's not the only one going car-first. Chick-fil-A and Pret both opened their first UK drive-thrus earlier this year. Boparan's MD Rich Pigott says the group has big plans for the format and calls Broughton "only the beginning".

So what for hospo people? Drive-thru is its own beast: headsets, timers and the window, with a queue of cars you can actually see building up. If you've done QSR and you're quick under pressure, these roles are about to multiply. If you're in North Wales, there's a new brand hiring on your doorstep.