Philadelphia-born Love & Honey Fried Chicken is recruiting experienced multi-unit operators to open franchise locations across Massachusetts, the brand's first push into the state. The fast-casual fried chicken concept — founded in 2017 and operating across Pennsylvania, New York, and Rhode Island — has identified Greater Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Worcester, Springfield, and the South Shore and North Shore corridors as priority development markets.
The Franchise Pitch
The brand's Massachusetts recruitment effort follows a recent Rhode Island opening in Cranston, which serves as the northeastern anchor for an incremental East Coast buildout. Love & Honey is structured around area development agreements targeting operators capable of scaling multiple units, and it is offering a $5,000 veteran discount on the initial franchise fee alongside multi-unit incentives designed to attract growth-oriented partners.
Supply chain consistency is backed by a national agreement with Sysco, and the brand's protein spec calls for Halal chicken raised without antibiotics, sourced through Coleman Farms. That combination of premium sourcing and centralized distribution support is increasingly standard in the better-burger and premium-chicken fast-casual tier as operators look for guardrails against the quality drift that can accompany rapid unit growth.
Market Context
The Massachusetts entry puts Love & Honey into one of the more competitive fast-casual corridors in the Northeast. Greater Boston has seen sustained investment from both regional independents and national chains in the fried chicken segment — a category that logged double-digit unit growth nationally through the mid-2020s before settling into a more selective expansion phase. For a brand at Love & Honey's scale, market differentiation rests on chef-driven menu execution: hand-dredged chicken prepared fresh in-unit, scratch-made sauces, and a hospitality-forward service model that the leadership team describes as a meaningful point of separation from commodity chicken concepts.
"Massachusetts is a natural step for Love & Honey as we continue building our footprint across the East Coast," said Laura Lyons, Co-Founder and CEO of Love & Honey Fried Chicken. "We have seen how guests in New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania have connected with the brand, and we believe the same quality, warmth, and sense of community will resonate with guests across Boston and the surrounding communities."
President Geoff Goodman, who describes himself as a Boston native, framed the opportunity in unit-economics terms familiar to area developers: the market rewards operators who invest in consistent execution and local community presence rather than those chasing short-term throughput. "We are looking for franchise partners who understand that successful growth is about more than opening restaurants," Goodman said.
What's Next
Love & Honey has not disclosed target unit counts or a development timeline for Massachusetts, but the market list — spanning urban cores, inner-ring suburbs, and secondary cities like Worcester and Springfield — suggests the brand is sizing up a multi-year, multi-operator corridor rather than a single-market test. For operators evaluating entry into the fast-casual chicken segment, the brand's Sysco supply agreement and codified sourcing standards offer the kind of franchise infrastructure that de-risks early-unit operations. Qualified operators can reach the brand through its franchise development site at loveandhoneyfranchise.com.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
