Business

Chicken street food specialist Hey Chick! closes Belfast outlets

Closure comes just over 18 months after pop-up business opened its first ‘bricks and mortar’ restaurant

Hey Chick! opened its restaurant on Belfast's Botanic Avenue in September 2022.
Hey Chick! opened its restaurant on Belfast's Botanic Avenue in September 2022.

Belfast fried chicken specialist ‘Hey Chick!’ has closed its outlets in the city.

The casual dining venture, which started out as a pop-up hatch at the Botanic Inn in south Belfast in 2021, went establish itself at Common Market in the Cathedral Quarter and at Trademarket on Dublin Road.

The popularity of the pop-up business saw Triquetra Hospitality Ltd open a 30-seater Hey Chick! restaurant at 49 Botanic Avenue in September 2022.

But it’s understood the chicken street food specialist ceased trading last month.

It’s the latest hospitality business to fall foul of the high inflation environment in the sector post-Covid.

Sooty Olive in Derry, Broker in east Belfast, Clenaghan’s in Co Armagh are among the well-known venues to close in recent weeks.

A number of award winning fine dining restaurants, such as Blank in south Belfast and Deane’s EIPIC in Belfast city centre, have also been forced to close in order to relaunch with more affordable menus.