At 11 a.m. on Feb. 20, 2013, VIVA Chicken opened its doors to its very first customer on Elizabeth Avenue in Charlotte. The fast-casual Peruvian rotisserie chicken joint was the first of its kind in the area, and that made co-founder Randy Garcia a little nervous.

Would Peruvian food work in Charlotte? Was this
a mistake? Would VIVA Chicken last?

Garcia became convinced that the answers to these questions, and subsequently the fate of his restaurant, depended entirely on this first customer’s experience.

“I remember all of us kind of peeked around the corner while he was eating just to see his
facial reactions — this was our first actual paying customer — because we wanted to see, does he really like it? Is he kind of liking it?” Garcia recalled.

The customer ended up loving it and came back the next day with five people in tow. Garcia said VIVA Chicken has been spreading that way ever since.

 

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