Have you heard about the newest food kitchen on the block? The lovely guys at the Fox & Grapes are proud to welcome Chucky’s Kitchen to the party.

Peddling the best in burgers, fried chicken, loaded fries and other US-inspired classics (and plenty of veggie and vegan options!), these guys focus on quality produce, great flavour and value for money.

We caught up with Mansu, founder of Chucky’s Kitchen, ahead of the Fox & Grapes 6th Birthday this Thursday, where they’ll be offering a whopping 50% off all food and 25% off all drinks!

If you haven’t been already, we highly recommend checking this place out. Why not give it a go this Thursday when everything will be HALF PRICE?

Find out more about the Fox and Grapes and check out the full menu for Chucky’s Kitchen here. 

Meet Mansu

What’s the story behind Chucky’s? When did you start and why?

Chucky’s started as a humble online venture during lockdown, initially just selling via Deliveroo, Uber and Just Eat. I have a background working for a range of UK high street brands and over time I noticed a high demand for American fusion food and lots of scope to offer better quality ingredients at a fairer price.

Where did your interest in food come from? Has it always been a passion?

I have always been a foodie. I completed my Hotel Management degree back in India and went on to the USA, where I completed a Masters degree in Food Management. My career has allowed me to work for well-established brands like The Hilton (Atlanta, USA) and UK high street chains including Las Iguanas, Turtle Bay, Wagamama, Red Dog Saloon and more.

Cooking is a passion of mine, which means it doesn’t really feel like work. It gives me great satisfaction and pleasure to be in the kitchen and to see customers enjoy a meal cooked by myself and the team.

What is your connection to Nottingham? Have you had a good response from people here?

I relocated to Nottingham for work, over 8 years ago. So far,  the support here has been overwhelming. With my other kitchen at the Kean’s Head, Paaji’s, we trialled the Chucky’s menu  throughout January and the response was great. From that point onwards, our confidence grew and we looked for a location for Chucky’s Kitchen.

Tell us a bit about your food offering and highlights from your menu.

Our unique selling point is quality ingredients and bigger portions. We always source our products from well-known and responsible suppliers. We use 100% Aberdeen Angus 21 days dry-aged beef patties for our beef burgers and quality Highbury chicken for all our chicken products. I think our most popular products with customers are either our legendary Wagyu burger or our classic fried chicken tenders.

How did Chucky’s at the Fox & Grapes come about? You also run the kitchen at the Kean’s Head. How have you found the experience working with them?

For a long time, I had wanted to do something of my own and was looking for a location at an affordable budget. During lockdown, when I had plenty of spare time, I started contacting hospitality professionals around Nottingham in search of a kitchen setup.

I got in touch with Pete Hopwell (Operations Manager at Castle Rock Brewery) via LinkedIn and the journey started from there. Pete and the whole Castle Rock team, both at the Kean’s Head and Fox & Grapes, have been a tremendous support and we operate like the same team. I honestly cannot thank them enough. They have helped in areas where I don’t have any expertise and I would not have been able to reach where I am without them!

The word on the street is that you run multiple food projects all under one banner but as different brands. Balancing different menu ingredients, delivery services and restaurants, how do you find the time to juggle it all at once?

That’s true! It’s a hard task but with good menu engineering, we have been able to deliver several different online food businesses under the same roof. Our main idea is to utilise the same ingredients as much as possible to deliver a range of menu items. Of course, this all comes with its challenges like training, packaging and storage, but we somehow make it work.

Why should we check out Chucky’s at the Fox &Grapes?

As I mentioned before, food is my passion and we focus more on food quality and portion sizes than bottomline profits. Our chicken tenders are a must-try. They are carefully marinated and coated in our special recipe which is quite different in flavour to a lot of high street brands. We try to give people something different for a good price too, so things like our Wagyu beef burgers are also highly recommended for a special treat!

Finally, the food is just a great accompaniment to beer. Even if you’ve just popped in for a quick pint, we’ve got lots of variations of loaded fries like our Truffle, garlic and parmesan, Philly cheesesteak, and BBQ Kansas pork fries. They are the perfect size to be shared between two and they go great with a pint!

Any final words?

Try us and you won’t be disappointed!

Find out more about the Fox & Grapes and check out the full menu for Chucky’s Kitchen here.