Chicken is having a serious moment in Canada’s culinary scene. With the rapid expansion of international brands including Chick-fil-A and Dave’s Hot Chicken across the country, chicken tenders, fingers, and nuggets are a hot commodity.
However as well as the giants, one Canadian spot is looking to expand across Ontario and beyond. Honestly Good Chicken Fingers specializes in (you guessed it) chicken fingers and with two locations under its belt, it’s ready to tackle more.
Honestly Good
Naomi Kempkes, co-founder and VP of operations at Honestly Good, told Dished that the concept was born during the pandemic in collaboration with her husband. The couple had both been working in the restaurant industry before the company’s creation.
“We’ve always wanted to open up our own place, and we did some research and discovered that chicken fingers were the number one menu item ordered, so we decided to build a brand around it,” she said.
Thus, Honestly Good Chicken Fingers was born, with the restaurant describing its offerings as a “levelled-up” version of the classic.
After spending the following years developing the chicken finger recipe and finding real estate, the first Honestly Good Chicken Fingers location opened as part of the food court at The Well in Toronto in 2024.
The spot offers an extremely limited menu, which Kempkes said is intentional in order to make training and execution processes easier. You can find chicken fingers, fries, Texas toast garlic bread, and, of course, all of the important dipping sauces.
“When you’re only making one thing, and you’re doing it really, really well, it’s easy to train, it’s easy to execute, and you’re getting a very consistent product,” she explained.
“It was important to us to minimize the number of items we had in the restaurant because we didn’t want to overcomplicate it.”
This decision has led to customer praises on the quality of its chicken fingers, Kempkes added.
From Ontario and beyond
Honestly Good Chicken Fingers has since expanded to a second dine-in location in Sherway Gardens, Etobicoke, which opened in 2024.
As for the next steps, Kempkes said the brand would look to expand to two more Ontario locations this year, with the aim of having five corporate locations in the province. There has also been some interest in franchising.
While growth in Ontario is the main goal for now, Kempkes added that she has big hopes for Honestly Good in Western Canada.
“I actually grew up in Vancouver, so I know the market really well there. Out west, and probably Alberta, would be the next step,” she said.
While there is no specific time frame for its Canadian expansion just yet, we’ll be keeping an eye on Honestly Good Chicken Fingers.
Address: The Well – 486 Front Street West, Unit WM26, Toronto
Address: 25 The West Mall, Unit 1240, Etobicoke