Canton’s delicious Byrd’s Hot Chicken officially opens on Ford Road

Driving to Chicago a few years ago, members of Plymouth’s Zahid family were getting hungry as they traveled through Indiana.

“My son wanted to eat at a Chipotle, but my daughter said there’s a Byrd’s Hot Chicken somewhere here,” recounted father Syed Zahid. “It was the first time we had heard of Byrd’s. We stopped there and ate, and we loved it so much. The chicken was so crispy and fresh.

“The next day I called the person who owned the franchise and, coincidentally, that guy was one of the co-founders of the franchise and he had opened a Byrd’s in Indiana.”

The more Zahid learned about the Anaheim, California-based franchise, the more he wanted to invest in the growing business.

“I learned the chicken Byrd’s serves is never frozen, never pre-battered,” Zahid said. “It’s marinated for two days. That’s how they maintain the juiciness and crispiness. I heard all this and thought, ‘I want to bring this to Michigan’.”

Let’s do this!

To make a delicious story short, in January of 2024, Zahid and two partners — Srini Chaganti and Chandan Nayak — opened Michigan’s first Byrd’s Hot Chicken  franchise at 43444 W. Oaks Dr. in Novi.

The Novi location was so well-received, the partners decided to open a second southeast Michigan location at 42919 Ford Road in Canton (sandwiched between Luca Pastry and Buddy’s).

Following months of renovating the Ford Road space, the Canton’s Byrd’s officially opened Oct. 31.

“Our customers love the freshness of our food,” Zahid said, when asked what makes Byrd’s different than the growing list of chicken-themed restaurants along Ford Road. “For example, we make all but two our our 17 sauces — barbecue and buffalo — in-house daily. Our mac and cheese is made daily in-house.

“People also love the generous portions we provide — and customer service is huge for us. One or more of the franchise owners are at the restaurant because we want to make sure everything is handled with the highest quality.”

They do chicken right

Zahid added that the menu at Byrd’s is not expansive — chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches and wings top the menu, with nine sides and hand-crafted milk shakes — so that they can focus on what they do best: chicken.

“We do have seasonal menu offerings, like for instance cheeseburgers, but for the most part we’re all about serving fresh, delicious chicken.”

Byrd’s offers levels of hotness — from mild to “supahot”, depending on their customers’ tastes.

“Even if you order the hottest spices, we make sure they still don’t overwhelm the taste of the chicken,” Zahid added.

One review resonated the most

Byrd’s has received scores of positive online reviews. However, the best review Zahid has heard came straight from a customer’s mouth.

“A lady came over to me after she had eaten her meal and said: ‘Please keep this a secret, but your chicken is better than even my mom’s fried chicken’,” Zahid said, laughing. “I told her, ‘I won’t tell your mom you told me that’.”

The Canton Byrd’s is a treat for your mouth and your eyes as the franchisees hired artist Chelsea Hensbergen to paint eye-catching murals on its south and north interior walls — in addition to uplifting images of chickens along the wall that leads to the restrooms.

There is even a wall livened up by Hensbergen’s artwork that serves as a background for customers’ photos or selfies.

Dine in or takeout

The Canton Byrd’s can seat up to 35 people, making it a perfect dine-in or take-out restaurant.

On a personal note, the mildly-seasoned chicken tenders and fries I devoured during a stop at Byrd’s the night before its grand opening was just as advertised: crispy, juicy and filling.

In other words, I’ll be slotting Byrd’s in my rotation of chicken hot spots in Canton.

For more information on Byrd’s visit its website by clicking here.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.