‘We’re going after Chick-fil-A and Popeyes.’ Bradenton sisters’ chicken sandwich is a hit

Their location may be a bit obscure — an indoor farmers market at a strip mall in Oneco — but there’s nothing obscure about the food created by sisters Ciliana and Gladys Jean.

As the pre-pandemic national debate raged over which fast food chain, Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, KFC or someone else, made the best chicken sandwich, Ciliana, 33, and Gladys, 32, knew they could do better. The only problem was, they only had a few dollars, an idea for a $6 chicken sandwich and a dream.

More than a year later, that idea has sparked more than $250,000 in sales and the creation of The Barnyard, a quaint corner location within the Oneco Farmer’s Market at the Oneco Square Plaza, 5108 15th St. E.

It’s a place where you are never a customer, but family, which is why the sisters refer to every customer as “cousin.”

The sisters had a little experience in cooking. They had run a small catering business, but they had no real culinary experience other than a genuine love for cooking and customer service.

The combination of the two has created an experience that their “cousins” often compare to what you find at Chick-fil-A.

“We get compared to Chick-fil-A because our service is good, but our food is better,” said Ciliana Jean. “We are a millennial Chick-fil-A, but we’re going after Chick-fil-A and Popeyes.”

Gladys Jean’s message was a bit more direct

“My message to Popeyes and Chick-fil-A is that Popeyes doesn’t have the best chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A doesn’t have the best chicken sandwich. The Barnyard has the best chicken sandwich.”

At least two of their “cousins” couldn’t have agreed more as they sat at one of the tables. As a woman bit into the juicy fried chicken sandwich, all she could say was, “It’s soooo good,” while her male companion was more blunt with, “It’s the best damn thing I’ve had in awhile.”

The Barnyard opened on Aug. 1, 2019, when the Oneco Farmers Market celebrated its grand opening. When the pandemic began the following March, it not only didn’t stop the sisters, they thrived.

“We were operating from home before we got here last August for the grand opening, so we already had our system,” said Ciliana Jean. “We were kind of like a drive-thru, so when the pandemic happened, it was perfect because we already had a system set up that was COVID friendly.”

The sisters said they would prepare the sandwiches from a kitchen they set up on their porch because their mother wouldn’t let them cook inside the house because she didn’t like the constant smell of fried chicken.

“No one ever got out of their car and no one ever came inside,” said Ciliana Jean. “So when the pandemic came our sales actually doubled because everybody was going to take out and drive-thru and we were already still set up. We were prepared before COVID.”

It’s one of the reasons why their customers are called cousins. Prior to opening The Barnyard and then during the pandemic, they weren’t able to meet their customers in person.

“It’s nice to be able to see them face to face now because at the house, a lot of them were just waving from their car,” said Ciliana Jean. “We didn’t know who they were, but now that they are here, we know their names and see their faces.”

From a sandwich to building an empire

“We took a $6 chicken sandwich and we took our hearts and went in full throttle,” said Ciliana Jean. “We both had quit full time jobs and there was no profit yet. It all started with that chicken sandwich challenge. We had a small catering business but we were just struggling entrepreneurs trying to make it happen. When that challenge came out, we both just said, ‘You know what, we believe we can make a better sandwich.”

But the sisters, coming from an island culture in Haiti, had never fried chicken before. Island cooking uses more sauces for their chicken rather than frying. They spent a week perfecting the flavors and when they thought they had it right, offered it for sale to the public from their home with a plan of just trying to make a few dollars for a couple of days.

“Two days turned into one month, one month turned into six months, six months turned into one year,” Ciliana Jean said.

Gladys Jean added, “You got two girls who started at the house and now we’re here and we aren’t going to stop.”

The Barnyard’s menu has expanded to include wraps, chicken wings, loaded tater tots and more. They will soon be adding a Philly cheese steak and burgers.

They have quickly built a strong base of loyal customers.

“We get a lot of people who are super excited that we are here because they’ve been following us, following our growth and following our journey,” Gladys Jean said. “They see we started at the house and all of a sudden here we are. There was no profit at first, but we saw the light in this business and where it could go if we decided to put everything and our all into this.”

And so they have and they do it all with a genuine love for what they do and a genuine love for their “cousins.”

“It has definitely taken on a life of its own,” said Gladys Jean.

This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 11:43 AM.