Today we’d like to introduce you to Erick and Claudia Canales.
Hi Erick and Claudia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My career as an accountant and financial consultant led me to get involved in a variety of business’ in the restaurant industry over the years, and for me and my wife Claudia, who developed her career as a psychologist, it slowly became our desire to own and operate as a family our own restaurant someday.
Our first contact with Chick’nCone was during pre-pandemic era and we both immediately fell in love with the concept and the quality of the food. Once we advanced in the project, we learnt that there was an option to set up the restaurant with an air fried concept in order to produce a healthier option of fried chicken and fries, this made our enthusiasm grow, and even though this setup was more complicated than a deep-fried process, we decided the uniqueness and the fact that we could offer a healthier option was the way to go.
We signed our agreement as franchisees with Chick’nCone right before Covid started and since then, everything turned out in delays and just a bumpy ride in general. During that time, we got news of a location that was going to become available at Guadalupe St right across UT campus, and even though that took me back to the days of spending fun time at that street, we continued to scout a lot of different interesting places around very unique areas of Austin. After a lot of scouting, I thought the vibe of The Drag and the area, in general, was a perfect fit for our concept; not every day you get an opportunity of an available retail space at The Drag, so we decided to pursue that location.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
After many delays and challenges, we started the build-out of our project around the summer of 2020, despite everyone telling us that it was a bad idea to go through the project in the middle of a pandemic and expecting it was not going to last that much, we decided to continue and give it our best.
Everything was more complicated than normally expected; every part of it was a challenge, not only dealing with Covid delays but also with the upgrade of an old site and the unforeseen hiccups we encountered; most buildings at the drag have been there for a long time, and this was not the exception. We we’re supposed to be ready to open in late 2020, but because all of this, we were able to open until the end of January 2021. Needless to say, the uphill was far from over as the pandemic forced us to operate based on a limited capacity; the streets were still empty and all restaurants (or at least the small ones like us) are still getting hit with numerous challenges.
However we remain positive that we can overcome Covid soon and that our dreams of offering a healthier fried chicken wrapped in a handmade waffle cone will be a concept liked by the community and UT students can grab a quick bite when they’re back in school.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
With my first bachelor degree in business administration and then as a registered public accountant with later a dual finance and investment management masters degree, I worked for over more than 19 years in business, accounting, taxes and corporate finance departments, and gained skills and experience correlating management to the financial, accounting and tax departments for proper coexist and the involvement of each of these areas in the fulfillment of the main objectives of an organization.
In 2014, I became a partner at a consulting firm and started to have some involvement with clients in the restaurant industry within my areas of expertise. After some years of experience in the industry, I was invited as a small partner for a couple of fine dining restaurants. That probably ignited a spark of dreaming on having my own place some day. Dream that my wife Claudia shared while she was developing as a psychologist specialized as counselor for teens and couples.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Our main supporters throughout this difficult journey have been our kids Mateo and Lucas, they’ve shared every excitement along the way, tasted every food test, and because of the pandemic and home school, they had to support us, sometimes even taking online classes in the middle of an equipment install or unexpected night event!
Contact Info:
- Email: chicknconeaustintx@gmail.com
- Website: www.chickncone.com
- Instagram: @chicknconeut
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/chicknconeut
- Yelp: Chick’nCone – Austin
