VOL 27 ISSUE 17, April 27, 2026
Main Caption: Hencraft celebrated its grand opening on March 11, and has continued to earn media coverage as one of downtown Buffalo’s latest restaurant openings. Pictured at the grand opening are, from left to right, Christian DiFiglia, general manager at Patina 250; Hencraft Alien Tom D’Amico, mailroom clerk; Patina 250 Executive Chef Evan Wargo; and the Hencraft Chicken Kristen Richthammer, corporate communications specialist.
Patina Group’s new chicken sandwich concept, Hencraft, was recently featured in The Buffalo News. The story by food writer Francesca Bond – titled “At downtown’s Hencraft, Delaware North gives Shake Shack, Chick-fil-A competition for fried chicken sandwich crowd” – can be found in its entirety below.
Like a baby chick gazing at its mother, chicken sandwich restaurant Hencraft faces Delaware North’s glassy, 12-story corporate headquarters on Delaware Avenue.
The headquarters’ many windowpanes, resembling camouflaging snake scales, reflect the wispy clouds of its surroundings. If you look closely, you can peek into the sky-high offices, where picture frames are propped against the windows.
It’s from one of those corporate offices that Delaware North decided to open a fried chicken sandwich restaurant across the street. The restaurant is, of course, a guinea pig. Delaware North is a billion-dollar, international foodservice and hospitality behemoth. It tests out new culinary concepts for its restaurants and venue concessions all the time.
But now, instead of testing a fried chicken concept in one of its internal test kitchens, Hencraft is out in the open. Delaware North plans to bring Hencraft to other cities, inside some of its sports arenas and at its Boston food hall, after perfecting it in Buffalo.
“We want to do things that originate in Buffalo,” said John Kolaski, president of Delaware North’s Patina Group.
Hencraft (235 Delaware Ave.) has the hallmarks of a chain: custom, attractive branding; a tight and accessible, yet trendy, menu with things like Kewpie mayo, Asian coleslaw and probiotic soda; a six-minute turnaround time between placing and receiving your order; and very little seating, as it’s mostly grab-and-go. (There are four barstools.)
The telltale sign of Hencraft’s monied background is that – in addition to being easy, convenient and fast – it’s great. The investment is clear.
The original chicken sandwich is a juicy, generous slab of chicken encased in thick, crispy breading, which is gluten-free and created from a blend of multiple cereals. Hencraft’s kitchen staff marinates the chicken for 24 hours before breading each piece. The chicken comes on a potato bun with crunchy pickle petals, a heap of coleslaw and “hen sauce,” which is a tart, chunky relish-mayo.
There are only two other sandwiches. Both are built around fried chicken. The traditional “CLT” is dressed in lettuce, tomato, Kewpie mayo (a richer Japanese mayo) and hot honey. The Asian-fusion Spicy Boi has chili-hoisin barbecue sauce and ginger-soy cabbage, which are “some of the flavors that are kind of popping in different areas of the food world,” Kolaski said, on a sesame bun.
“Our culinary team went through many iterations of what the chicken sandwich could be,” Kolaski said.
The fried pickle spears − pickle quarters fried in a thick jacket of breading ($6) − stand out. All of the breading is gluten-free.
The rest of the menu includes chicken tenders ($9 for one piece and one sauce, $16 for two pieces and two sauces) and a $29 caviar bump. (Caviar and chicken is a thing, popularized by celebrity chef David Chang at his restaurant, Momofuku.)
The lemonade is not your usual sugar-packed, fast-food lemonade. Hencraft’s pink lemonade is a cold-pressed juice, made of water, lemon juice, agave, beet juice and cayenne pepper.
The sandwiches do not, at all, resemble the classic fast-food drive-thru’s squished chicken sandwiches. They are also not at all priced like a squished fast-food sandwich. Hencraft’s sandwiches are $13 to $14. That’s about $4 more than sandwiches at Shake Shack and Chick-fil-A and about $2.50 more than locally owned chicken sandwich franchise Cluck Cluck Moo Moo. And to add a side of fries, the slim-cut and spiced Hen fries, is an additional $6.
But Hencraft is not fast food. It’s “fine-fast casual.” Kolaski said they treat Hencraft’s chicken like it’s being served at one of their fine dining restaurants.
Since opening last month, Kolaski said they’ve already tweaked the restaurant. He anticipates toying with the concept over the next few months based on customer feedback and sales.
“Do we want to be, like, super edgy, cool, hot and fun? Should this stay a little bit more middle of the palate so that it appeals to more people?” Kolaski said. “We’re playing with that now.”
We’re in the “golden age of the fried chicken sandwich,” as The Atlantic dubbed our chicken-crazed times. (Burgers? They’re not doing so well.)
Nationally famous chain chicken sandwich restaurants keep coming to Buffalo. Chick-Fil-A opened its first local location in 2018. Dave’s Hot Chicken came in 2023. Wingstop and Shake Shack followed in 2025. Raising Cane’s is coming to Amherst next year.
The fried chicken sandwich chains are competing for dollars sorely needed by your restaurant-owning neighbors. But the best chain to root for is probably the one whose headquarters is right next door.
The one whose corporate workers’ picture frames are visible from its barstools.
