CT restaurant specializing in chicken with a ‘kick’ will add new location

Haven Hot Chicken has decided to open its sixth restaurant will open later this year in Storrs within walking distance of the UConn campus.

The 2,000-square-foot restaurant, focused on take-out, will be located at 1206 Storrs Road, featuring it’s Nashville hot chicken.

“Our fans have asked, and we listened, bringing our beloved menu to an entirely new area of Connecticut,” said Jason Sobocinski, president and co-founder of Haven Hot Chicken.

Haven Hot Chicken, which first opened in New Haven in 2020, additionally operates in Orange, North Haven, Norwalk and will soon open in Middletown as well.

The Storrs location will offer online orders with curbside takeout and UberEats delivery, as well as limited seating for in-house dining.

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The hotness/spiciness of the chicken goes from no spice — that’s country chicken — to four levels of hotness, the highest being “Haven” level.

The company uses only 100% certified Halal chicken with no growth hormones or antibiotics.

Sobocinski, one of the owners and co-founders, said they named the business “Haven Hot Chicken” because the first was in New Haven, where the co-owners have so many ties, plus the word haven means a place where you can go.

“You can come to us for hot chicken,” he said. They also sell a popular “Not Chicken,” made of cauliflower.

The UConn restaurant will be its largest footprint.

“People are loving it,” Sobocinski said of the food. “It’s just one of those products that’s fun to eat if you like some kick.”

He said the secret is in the process which takes three days from raw chicken to what consumers get. They use a secret blend of herbs and spices, he said.

He said they researched the most commonly used words in reviews and they were: crispy, crunchy, juicy, spicy, delicious.

“We would happily go up against anyone’s fried chicken because we believe ours is the best,” he said. “It’s fun because it tests your taste buds.”

A part of the product’s appeal, he said, is “crust adhesion.” Customers don’t get that crust sleeve when they pick up the chicken and eat it, he said.

“When you take a bite you’re getting crispy chicken,” Sobocinski.

The legend behind Nashville hot chicken, he said, is that a woman suspected her husband was being disloyal and made him fried chicken, dousing it with cayenne pepper, hoping he would recoil.

But the legend continues that he loved it and opened a place in Nashville to sell the chicken.

As a side — and he stresses it’s not a dessert — they have banana pudding that helps support Connecticut Foodshare.

He said $1 per pudding is donated and so far they’ve raised over $25,0000 for the cause.