Comin’ in hot. 🔥 The team behind Willy Taco has announced that they will be opening two hot chicken restaurants in the Upstate called Flock Shop.

Here’s why the news has everyone’s feathers ruffled. Hot chicken is a trend that started in Nashville, with many sources crediting Prince’s Hot Chicken Shacks as the true birthplace. While recipes vary, hot chicken is essentially spicy fried chicken – typically served over bread with pickles.

It’s become a national trend (even KFC jumped on board) and Greenville was excited to get a taste when Asheville’s Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack announced in 2018 that they would be opening a location in Greenville along Laurens Rd. (scheduled to open a little over a year from now).

Now, we’re cluckin’ about Flock Shop – with one location set to open in Spartanburg (at 970 S. Pine St.) around the first of the year and the second location to open several months later in downtown Greenville (at 307 E. Washington St. in the same complex as Swanson’s Warehouse).

Flock Shop’s menu will include a range of traditional homestyle fried chicken like tenders + sandwiches, along with classic southern sides by South Carolina Chef Ambassador William Cribb like grits, collards and coleslaw. Come for the food + stay for the drinks, Flock Shop will also offer a curated beer selections and seasonal kegged cocktails.

Aside from the “stellar hot chicken” offerings – Flock Shop will bring a fresh new look to two Upstate buildings that used to service cars. The Greenville location used to be W.N. Watson Automotive and the Spartanburg location was a Crown gas service station in the 1950s before becoming Pine Street Motors. Historic preservation + redesigning the vintage storefronts remains a priority for the Willy Taco team.

We’re pretty egg-cited to give Flock Shop a try.