Cover Image Left: Leyton Lavigne, vice president and owner, shows off Chip’s Famous Chicken on a Stick—breaded tenders layered with pickles and deep fried. Right: Executive chef Amar Patel displays barbecue ribs, chicken quarters and sausage, plus the Butter Biscuit Brisket sandwich. 

At Chip’s To Go Market in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the friendly employees know the names of regular customers and often what they are going to order—whether it’s Chip’s Famous Chicken on a Stick or Butter Biscuit Brisket or barbecue ribs—and the service and food bring the customers back again and again. 

“We have a high level of quality customer service, quality food and quality people. We make it a family store with an environment that people want to go to,” said Leyton Lavigne, vice president and owner of Chip’s To Go Market, which has three locations in Baton Rouge (Airline Highway, Coursey Boulevard and Highland Road). The markets, which are named for Lavigne’s father, Chip, are part of the convenience store arm of Lavigne Oil Co., a wholesale fuel distributor of Shell and Chevron gasoline, diesel and jet fuels based in Baton Rouge.

On the foodservice side of Chip’s To Go, everything is made fresh daily. “Our slogan is, ‘fresh, friendly, fast.’ Fresh is first. We do everything fresh,” Lavigne said. 

CHICKEN ON A STICK

Chicken tenders are ubiquitous in convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, but Chips To Go stands out for the unique flavor and presentation of its chicken tenders. 

“My CFO read an article in NACS Magazine that said if you put something on a stick it sells 40% better,” Lavigne explained. “We were 30 days out from opening [the Highland Road c-store]. We took our chicken tender recipe. We said it’s good, but it’s missing something. We decided to layer in pickles, put it on a stick and fry the whole thing.” 

The result was a winning menu item, albeit one that took customers a little time to catch on. 

“The Highland Road store opened on April 1, 2020. It took six months for [Chicken on a Stick] to grasp. We were pushing the chicken sandwich first, and customers just gravitated to Chicken on a Stick. We stand the sticks up. Customers noticed, and naturally and by itself it took off—no advertising,” Lavigne said. 

What’s the secret? “I soak my chicken in pickle juice. Now we sell a couple hundred a day and three hundred on a busy day. If you’re going to serve food in a gas station in South Louisiana it’s got to be flavorful.” 

The pickle juice marinade was recommended by an R&D chef from Diversified Foods & Seasonings who helped get the foodservice program off the ground by developing menus, teaching the team about waste management, quality control and other basics. “He worked with us to us develop our own flavor profiles. That helped the food become what it is today. We hired Matt Sieh to be our director of retail operations. He was the category manager over all the food service at SuperAmerica Convenience Stores. He knew deli, numbers and waste. They did the hard work of making it all come to life.” 

THE BBB

“The Butter Biscuit Brisket is the other part of our deli story,” Lavigne shared. “Each day, we smoke our own brisket, ribs, chicken quarters and sausage.” The idea for the Butter Biscuit Brisket came from Lavigne’s dad. “He is a brisket lover. He said, ‘Y’all got to put some honey, butter it up and drizzle a little bit of barbecue sauce and that’s it.’ I have to say, they do well in the morn- ing. No one else has anything like it.” 

There’s always a bit of trial and error when it comes to developing menu items. “We tried turkey wings and lasagna. That didn’t do well. We had red beans and rice as a main entrée but moved it to a side dish and that has worked well,” Lavigne said. 

“Our biggest bust is rotisserie chicken,” Lavigne said. “We sell maybe two or three a day. What we have left over we use for chicken salad, chicken Caesar salad and chicken breakfast burritos.” 

MODERN DESIGN

The Chip’s To Go concept made its debut in 2019 as Lavigne Oil took over leases on the three c-stores in Baton Rouge. The 18-to 20-year-old stores needed complete makeovers, so the company turned to Mike Lawshe, owner and president, Paragon Solutions. 

“Paragon Solutions came up with the floor layouts. We moved a few walls, counters and fixtures in two stores. We completely gutted and redid the entire flow of the Highland Road location,” Lavigne said. “Mike got creative and maximized the space and kept them customer friendly.” 

Highland Road is the flagship. Opening the kitchen up to the interior allowed it to be used not only for cooking but as part of the marketing plan. A huge Southern Pride smoker takes center stage. 

Lavigne notes that he was intentional about involving his store managers in the construction process and figured that if they stuck with the company through all of the dust and upheaval, they were on board for the long term.

Lavigne gives credit for much of the overall success of Chip’s To Go to Sieh and his team, who keep the stores running smoothly. “He has a great sense of how to deal with employees and customers,” Lavigne said.

“It’s inevitable that customers have bad days, but it’s our job to try and put a smile on their face. So, we always thank them and welcome them back with open arms.”