Two expansions make it easier to find fried chicken around town

When Lansing native Cedric Bradley walked into the Lansing Shuffle after spending six years in Metro Detroit, he was surprised that the food hall and shuffleboard spot had restaurant vacancies.

Bradley’s father, Alfonzo, opened Finger Lickin’ Chicken & Fish in 2009. The two of them currently operate a brick-and-mortar spot on the west side and a food truck, and they expanded into the Shuffle a month ago.

“I had just moved back, and I was like, ‘Why isn’t this place full of restaurants?’” Cedric said of the Shuffle. “It was just crazy to see all these open spaces, so I was like, ‘I might as well get one now.’”

It’s another key moment in the restaurant’s gradual expansion. Once offering only the titular fried chicken and fish, Cedric and Alfonzo now cook up baked spaghetti, burgers, shrimp, sides like mac and cheese and even pound cake. They added a salmon burger recently. The signage just can’t keep up.

Continuing to expand the business is exciting for both father and son. The business continued to operate even through the deaths of Cedric’s mother and elder brother. Alfonzo said keeping the restaurant’s dream going helps to carry on their legacies.

“We basically do this in honor of them,” Alfonzo said.

The Shuffle isn’t the last stop for Finger Lickin’. Cedric said he plans to expand the business to Novi next.

Asked to recommend a favorite menu item for Shuffle patrons running into the business for the first time, Cedric struggled to settle on one.

“My favorite?” he said. “Try the catfish, hush puppies, greens, baked beans, the lemon pepper chicken bites, the hot honey chicken sandwich, hot honey catfish nuggets,” he said.

Last week, southsiders got access to some more fried chicken as well when national fast-food behemoth Chick-fil-A opened a new location at 6430 S. Cedar St. The restaurant, the Lansing area’s first new Chick-fil-A in about a decade, is owned and operated by Lansing local Tyler Bursick.

Bursick has been working at Chick-Fil-A since he was 16, when he got his first job as a team member at a Florida location. He’s spent most of his career at Chick-Fil-A, even after moving to Lansing to raise his family.

Operating his own location and being able to provide income and mentorship to more than a hundred team members is exciting to him, he said, having once worked where they are now.

“We’ve got about 110 people on payroll, and I’m just really excited to have the opportunity to invest in them, not only professionally but personally as well, and help equip and prepare them for the next season of life, whatever that looks like,” he said.