Chicken Salad Chick will relocate its corporate headquarters to Atlanta from Auburn, Ala. The chain anticipates it will complete the move during the first quarter of 2021.

The company’s new office will be across the street from a Chicken Salad Chick restaurant in the city’s Vining’s neighborhood and will house the leadership team of approximately 40 employees. Chicken Salad Chick expects 17 Auburn-based corporate employees to transition to the new headquarters in metro-Atlanta between now and May, 2021. The chain anticipates filing the remaining 20 positions with people from the Atlanta market.

“Atlanta has always fostered a nurturing business environment for companies to kickstart their growth,” says Scott Deviney, Chicken Salad Chick president and CEO. “This relocation positions Chicken Salad Chick to scale at an accelerated rate and meet aggressive growth goals, while allowing us to broaden our vision for the future. We’ve seen increased interest from Atlanta’s diverse and talented workforce, and the city’s airport allows us swift access to prospective vendors and a growing pool of interested franchisees.”

Chicken Salad Chick hired nearly a dozen corporate positions locally in Atlanta throughout 2020 that will manage and support the brand throughout the Southeast and Midwest. In August, Chicken Salad Chick promoted three Atlanta-based executives: Jim Thompson to chief operating officer, Terry McKee to chief development officer and Tom Carr to chief marketing officer. Most recently, Atlantans Marianna Magee, Jon Musser, Mary Lou Atkins and Kim Bolinger were named director of marketing, director of supply chain, VP of human resources and director of operations for the Atlanta market.