cluck [kluhk]

Cluck-U Chicken

Cluck-U Chicken (also known as "Cluck University") is a fast food restaurant which specializes in serving chicken. Most of their locations are in the states of Maryland and New Jersey, but there are locations in several other states as well. Most of the locations are near or on college campuses.

History

Cluck-U Chicken was started by Robert Ilvento in 1985 when he was a sophomore in college. The first location was in New Brunswick, New Jersey at Rutgers University. However, the most famous store was opened in 1990 when JP Haddad joined up with Ilvento and opened the restaurant in downtown College Park, Maryland, near the University of Maryland, College Park.

Later, Haddad, and his brother Simon, purchased Ilvento's share of the College Park location. Together, they built new locations, all in Maryland. In 2000, JP Haddad acquired the rights to develop the franchise nationally, while Ilvento began to promote the business. The goal of the founders is to "Have a Cluck-U Chicken restaurant in every college campus and in every city in the U.S., and later, the world."

Products

Cluck-U Chicken (aka "Cluck") serve "wingers" as well as their wing sauces, which come in various different varieties: including "Honey Hickory"; and the infamous Thermometer scale of "Mild"; "Atomic"; "Nuclear"; "Traditional death"; "Thermo-Nuclear"; and "911" which has been banned from most restaurants in New Jersey. At some locations where the "911" sauce is served, customers must sign a liability waiver before consuming it.

Other products include chicken sandwiches (or "Cluckwiches"), "hot bites" and various forms of fried chicken and chicken fingers.