A well-known fried chicken brand in Joliet has been making its way to other suburbs including Orland Hills.

Joe DiGuglielmo and Steve Wiborg are friends with Pat and Ken Reimer, who founded the original Chicken-N-Spice in 1979 and still own and operate the downtown Joliet restaurant at 251 N. Chicago St.

“They knew they had a great business and wanted to see it live on so it was more of a friendship agreement that Steve and I would basically take over the brand and expand it,” said DiGuglielmo, who opened Chicken-N-Spice Orland with Wiborg in April.

“We’re looking to grow on the brand name of Chicken-N-Spice.”

Here is the dish on the Orland Hills eatery, where Sama Allen, of Bolingbrook, is general manager:

On the menu: Handcrafted chicken.

“We do everything in-house,” DiGuglielmo said. “We get fresh chicken breast meat every day. We have butchers that are cutting it into 2.5 to 3 ounces for us. Then it’s marinated in our coolers for 24 hours and hand-breaded and cooked at the time of order.”

About the owners: DiGuglielmo, of Sugar Grove, and Wiborg, of Shorewood, also own Chicken-N-Spice Shorewood, 150 W. Brook Forest Ave., Unit A, which opened in September 2018. The partners are looking at New Lenox, Oswego and Plainfield as possible areas for their next Chicken-N-Spice restaurant.

“I own another restaurant in Batavia. It’s an Italian restaurant,” said DiGuglielmo about Tribella Grill. “I’ve been in the food industry my whole life. That was my first dive into ownership.

“Steve (Wiborg) owned over 400 Burger Kings at his peak. He then sold those off to become president of Burger King North America for a few years. After he retired, I talked him out of retirement to do this venture.”

A mission statement: “We want to take from both our experiences. I’m more of a sit-down restaurant background and Steve was quick-service. We’re trying to create a bit of a different experience from (the moment) you walk in,” said DiGuglielmo about Chicken-N-Spice’s focus on customer service.

Decor: “I would call it modern and sleek. We used a gray color inside with a bright red border,” DiGuglielmo said.

Specialties: “Our top thing at all stores is our George and Eddie with three breast chunks, your choice of dipping sauce, our homemade spicy rice and our JoJo’s potato wedges, which is our version of french fries. That comes with a biscuit,” DiGuglielmo said.

“Our top product’s something that was created by Pat Reimer by happy accident. She happened to get a taste of chicken breast meat after it was accidentally delivered to her. She ended up after much trial and error with breast chunks. She worked years on perfecting them,” he said.

“We also do a great version of chicken and waffles,” said DiGuglielmo about Waffle N Chunks. “You can get it with dipping sauce and syrup or we can make it deluxe and put strawberries and whipped cream on top of it.”

Other popular dishes include mac-n-cheese bites, breaded chicken sandwiches and fried chicken on the bone.

We’re different because: “It’s a great catering product. It’s boneless. It can be eaten with your hands. It’s finger food. It does great at parties. It holds well,” DiGuglielmo said.

Prices: Start at $2.19 for sides, $3.49 for snacks, $4.40 for breast chunks, $4.79 for sandwiches and more, $5.29 for fried chicken on the bone, $5.99 for livers or gizzards, $7.99 for fried seafood dinners and $8.79 for George and Eddie.

Logistics:Chicken-N-Spice Orland is at 9135 W. 159th St., Orland Hills. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays. Call 708-966-2155 or go to www.chicken-n-spice.com.

Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer.