Why did the chicken cross the road? It’s an age-old question that NBL CKN has answered with a pair of parades this weekend.
Yes, you read that correctly — chicken-themed parades.
Buffalo Wings & Rings, the Cincinnati-based sports restaurant franchise, has jumped on ghost kitchen trend with the Noble Chicken (stylized as NBL CKN. A ghost kitchen is a professional kitchen that is set up for the preparation of delivery-only meals.
William Stone, the social media manager for Buffalo Wings & Wings, says the idea for the Noble Chicken began when Buffalo Wings & Rings went undercover at the 2019 Queen of the Wing festival. The company entered as the Noble Chicken, and no one knew that it was really Buffalo Wings & Rings in disguise. The Noble Chicken was crowned the winner of the 2019 festival.
“Even though we are a chain, [we wanted to show] that we can still offer great unique tastes that your local mom-and-pop shop can offer you,” Stone tells CityBeat.
The Noble Chicken grew from there and now has a brick and mortar inside of Jungle Jim's, which took over a space that was previously occupied by Red Sesame. It opened right before the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. The plan is to expand to 29 new restaurants by the end of May, each as a ghost kitchen concept.
The Noble Chicken specializes in fresh free-range chicken items like sandwiches and tenders, according to a media release from Buffalo Wings & Rings. Onet menu item is the MNRCHY chicken sandwich, which has bacon jam, pimento cheese, bourbon mayo, lettuce and tomato on a brioche bun.
To celebrate the concept, those who order directly from The Noble Chicken can pick up their food at pop-up shops inside Buffalo Wings & Rings locations March 20-23, according to the press release.
But you want to know about the chicken parades, right?
The pop-up parades will take place on the Ohio side in Oakley and across the river in Crestview, Kentucky, on Saturday, March 20.
A team of actors will dress as NBL CKN characters and pass out “CKN Boxes,” which will be filled with food samples and gift cards. The characters are modeled on mash-ups of two animals since the Noble Chicken is all about mash-ups, Stone says. Instrumentalists will join the parade with drummers and trumpet players.
The idea for parades came from looking for something fun to do in the era of COVID-19, Stone says. The company landed on pop-up parades as something fun, social, safe and would get the word out about NBL CKN.
Here is the parade route, as provided by NBL CKN:
CRESTVIEW, KENTUCKY
- Crestview Hills Town Center
- College Park/Campus Drive — will stop to perform two times along this street
- Meadowlark Drive — will stop to perform three times along this street
- CRESTVIEW ROUTE MAP
- Estimated 60-75 minutes in Crestview
OAKLEY, OHIO
- Oakley Buffalo Wings & Rings + Kroger parking lot
- Taylor — will stop to perform two times along this street
- Isabella — will stop to perform two times along this street
- OAKLEY ROUTE MAP
- Estimated 60-75 minutes in Oakley
EASTGATE, OHIO
- Eastgate Wings and Rings
- Northport — will stop to perform two times along this street
- Brandonmore — will stop to perform two times along this street
- EASTGATE ROUTE MAP
- Estimated 60-75 minutes in Eastgate
Learn more about NBL CKN at nblckn.com
