Chick&Tender Replaces Both Long Island PDQ Locations In Farmingdale, Westbury

LONG ISLAND, NY — PDQ, a chicken restaurant with locations in Farmingdale and Westbury, only needed to close for half a day before becoming Chick&Tender.

People Dedicated to Quality — known as PDQ — came to Long Island when it opened in Farmingdale in July 2019. The Florida-based fast casual eatery opened its second and final location on the island in Westbury in May 2022.

The Westbury store, at 1236 Old Country Road in Westbury Plaza, and the Farmingdale spot, at 1004 Broadhollow Road, completed their rebrands, marking the end of PDQ's New York operations. Each store was closed for only half a day, and staff will remain the same.

Chick&Tender, like PDQ, offers tenders, sandwiches, salads and shakes. New additions to the menu include a double smash burger, chicken parmesan melt and grilled cheese.

Co-owners Dean Poll and Tom Fanning, former PDQ franchisees, said they opened the Long Island stores with the intent of expanding further. But PDQ, headquartered in Tampa Bay, hadn't thrown the full weight of its "support, promotion and name recognition" at the Long Island stores, Poll said.

"So, the fine people at PDQ allowed us to be able to sever our working relationship and using their name," Poll told Patch. "We are pursuing a similar concept, for sure."

PDQ did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

Chick&Tender is keeping its classic crispy chicken sandwiches but has swapped out a few PDQ specialties for a few of its own. The burger has become popular, Poll said. The new store transitioned its waffle fries to fresh crinkle-cut french fries, according to Poll.

"We’re making our own brand, which will be a Long Island brand, initially," Poll said. "Perhaps it will expand. But for right now, those two locations are Chick&Tender."

There will be similarities, too. The store still has 90 flavors of Coca-Cola products, and the chicken and tenders are prepared the same way.

“I invite people to try us," Poll said. "I want to be a Long Island brand. I live on Long Island. We’ll be offering a quality product ... PDQ becoming Chick&Tender allows us to be able to make more things that we feel Long Islanders will appreciate and enjoy."

The new name, Chick&Tender, is more representative of the kind of store it is, Poll said.

"People were always confused what PDQ was," Poll said. "They didn’t know if it was a nail salon or a luggage store. They didn’t know what the heck it was. Chick&Tender best describes what we are."

The milkshake roster includes vanilla, Ghirardelli, chocolate, black & white, rotating Fruit Crown flavors (strawberry offered year-round), Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and Oreo.

Chick&Tender is not part of a national chain.

The rebrand allows Poll and Fanning to serve what they want to serve, and provides more options on where they source their food from. Poll, a 45-year veteran of the restaurant business, has relationships with various vendors — produce, meat and chicken.

"As opposed to a chain restaurant, we’re able to source our products," Poll said. "We used to have a truck pull up and deliver everything. It was a preferred vendor, and we were compelled to buy from them. We received what was given to us."

The sourcing options "present a lot of opportunities" related to control, store quality and menu items, Poll said.

Chick&Tender is honoring the loyalty points earned by customers at PDQ.

"We still have a nice following from PDQ," Poll said. "We hope that the PDQ customers will continue to be new loyal customers to Chick&Tender."