60902 M-51 The first time I stopped at a Krispy Krunchy Chicken, I was kind of underwhelmed. It was a little weird because it was a standalone store in Grand Rapids.
I didn’t see the chain for many years after that.
It wasn’t until I was heading to my in-laws one day when I saw a sign for the chicken joint in Mendon. This was much more familiar to me as it’s in the Marathon station. They used to do their own food but switched over to the chicken chain in 2020.
Again, didn’t see the name anywhere else for a few years….until I was driving through White Pigeon. A new Amoco station went up there and Krispy Krunchy Chicken was one of the food options. Since then, another location opened in Galesburg.
There’s a gas station right off I-94 just outside of Paw Paw I stop at fairly often when I’m in that area. They’ve always had some kind of food options but guess what I found last week when I stopped there for a Pepsi? Yup. A Krispy Krunchy Chicken.
The Paw Paw location of Krispy Krunchy Chicken is inside the Marathon gas station on M-51 just to the south of the I-94 interchange in Paw Paw Township. The travel plaza has undergone quite a bit of rehab over the last few years including a much needed repair of the parking lot that used to be filled with huge pot holes. You can actually drive in now without having to dodge them.
The inside has undergone a massive renovation as well. This gas station used to be pretty run down and not really the cleanest place to stop but that’s been fixed. The convenience store part of the building has been cleaned up, the bathrooms have been moved and are much cleaner than they used to be, and the hot food area and cash register area have been upgraded as well.
The chicken counter is right next to the cash register but it’s in a little bit of an odd area. The LCD menu boards are more towards the middle of the store and not right next to the chicken. They do have some printed menus next to the chicken so if you didn’t see the menu, you can still figure out what you want as you’re staring at all that delicious chicken.
The chicken, like all gas station chicken, is made ahead of time and sitting in a warming case waiting for people like me to walk in and realize the need chicken. The menu has individual pieces of fried chicken plus chicken sandwiches, tenders and sides.
I ordered the six piece tenders which also comes with a biscuit. I added on a couple of Pepsi’s from the convenience store cooler. The guy who boxed up the chicken passed it to another guy working the register. The cost including the two pops was right around $15.
I like Krispy Krunchy Chicken for a couple of reasons. The big one is that you get quite a bit of food. The box is almost always hard to close. Maybe they do that on purpose…small box, lots of chicken….but even if they do, it works as I always feel like I have more food than I really need and always questions why I don’t just order less.
The tenders are all a pretty good size and they’re always so juicy. The chicken is hand breaded in in Cajun spices. There’s a little bit of heat in the background of each bite but it’s not really spicy like Popeyes is spicy. If crunchy is in your name….even if it’s spelled wrong…the chicken better be crunchy. The chicken is obviously going to suffer a bit from steam softening the breading but for the most part, the chicken stays pretty crispy.
I passed on sides because I knew that the chicken was going to be enough but the chicken does come with a biscuit. The Honey Biscuits are southern style biscuits with a lot of sticky honey on top. Fast food chicken biscuits always seem overcooked because they sit under the heat lamps for a while. That’s usually the case with Krispy Krunchy Chicken as well. The biscuit is good but it’s not like a home made buttermilk biscuit. The honey can be a little messy as it will stick to your fingers but it’s tasty and a good finish to the meal.
You probably can’t find a bigger fan of gas station chicken than me. It’s such a simple, quick, tasty meal. I have started getting a little more excited every time I see the Krispy Krunchy logo on the side of gas stations. The chicken is always good and it always hits the spot.