Hattie B's Bets on Custom Tech for National Hot Chicken Expansion

NEW HOPE, PA – May 06, 2026 – As Nashville's iconic Hattie B's Hot Chicken continues its fiery expansion across the United States, the brand is making a significant investment in its digital infrastructure. The family-owned restaurant announced today the launch of a new national web and mobile experience, powered by FNGRFOOD, a proprietary platform from Philadelphia-area digital agency Moxie Labs.

The move marks a strategic pivot away from the brand's legacy third-party ordering system, replacing a generic solution with a fully customized digital architecture. This partnership signifies a growing trend in the fast-casual sector: rapidly scaling brands are increasingly seeking technology that reflects their unique identity rather than relying on one-size-fits-all platforms.

A New Recipe for Digital Experience

For a brand built on Southern hospitality and a distinct culinary identity, the previous digital presence was no longer keeping pace. Hattie B's leadership recognized that to maintain its high standards during a period of aggressive growth, its online and mobile customer experience needed to match the quality of its in-restaurant service.

"We knew that to keep pace with our growth, our digital presence had to reflect the same quality as our in-restaurant service," said Joel Chrisman, CEO of Hattie B's, in a statement. "FNGRFOOD™ gives us the flexibility we were missing. Now, across all of our locations, we can deliver a more consistent, frictionless experience on both web and mobile."

The FNGRFOOD platform is designed to provide this flexibility. It acts as a sophisticated orchestration layer, unifying a restaurant's complex web of technology—including point-of-sale (POS) systems, loyalty programs, and customer data—into a single, seamless guest experience. This deployment for Hattie B's is the first major national rollout for the platform.

"Hattie B's is a great example of a brand that has outgrown the limitations of traditional white-label platforms," explained Justin Mathews, Founder and CEO of Moxie Labs. "FNGRFOOD gives them the flexibility to create a digital experience that truly reflects their brand while maintaining the operational efficiency required to scale. It's about helping great restaurant brands take ownership of their customer journey."

Moving Beyond the White-Label Mold

The restaurant technology market is a crowded field dominated by two primary options: rigid, cost-effective white-label platforms and expensive, time-intensive custom-built solutions. Companies like Toast and Square offer integrated POS and ordering systems, while services like ChowNow and Flipdish provide branded, but often template-based, online ordering. While these solutions serve a purpose, they can force unique brands into a generic digital mold.

Moxie Labs' FNGRFOOD platform aims to carve a niche as a "semi-custom" solution. It bridges the gap by offering a bespoke front-end user interface—giving brands complete design control—while leveraging a powerful, standardized backend that connects digital channels with on-the-ground restaurant operations. This approach allows a brand like Hattie B's to avoid the "cookie-cutter feel" of standard apps and present a digital storefront that is an authentic extension of its physical restaurants.

This strategy is becoming increasingly vital as restaurants compete for digital real estate and customer loyalty. By moving away from third-party aggregators and generic solutions, brands regain control over their customer data, enabling deeper insights into purchasing behavior and more effective, personalized marketing through loyalty programs like the Hattie B's "Coop Club."

Fueling a Nationwide Hot Chicken Takeover

The timing of this digital overhaul is no coincidence. Hattie B's is in the midst of a significant national expansion. Founded in Nashville in 2012, the brand has already established a devoted following with locations in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Illinois, and Nevada. Further growth is on the horizon, with new restaurants planned for Plano, Texas; Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood; and a first-ever drive-thru location in Huntsville, Alabama.

Supporting this scale requires a robust and unified technological foundation. A fragmented system, where online orders don't sync properly with kitchen displays or where loyalty points are difficult to track across state lines, can create operational bottlenecks and a frustrating customer experience. The new platform directly addresses these potential pain points.

The FNGRFOOD implementation provides Hattie B's with several key advantages for its expansion. A seamless integration between online ordering and the "Coop Club" loyalty program is designed to strengthen customer retention and provide valuable data as the brand enters new markets. Furthermore, real-time synchronization with kitchen workflows promises to improve order accuracy and reduce wait times, ensuring that the customer experience remains consistent and positive, whether they are visiting a flagship Nashville location or a brand-new eatery in Austin.

This investment underscores a critical understanding: as Hattie B's introduces its signature hot chicken to more communities, a frictionless and brand-aligned digital experience is just as important as the crispy, juicy chicken itself. The new platform is now live across the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and at HattieB.com, ready to serve the brand's growing national fanbase.