A 75-year-old Arkansas icon gets a second chance at fried chicken glory

Springdale, Arkansas is deep in chicken country. It’s in one of the top poultry-producing states. Tyson Foods is based here. And, for 75 years, residents and travelers through this northwest corner of Arkansas knew the place to get their chicken fried was AQ Chicken.

The “AQ” stands for Arkansas Quality. First opened in 1947 in Springdale, AQ Chicken was founded by Roy Ritter, a farmer who raised the birds that would be seasoned, battered, and deep-fried in the kitchen there.

Ritter gave his fried chicken a unique twist, finishing it on the grill, over coal, which deepened the flavor with a bit of char. At the restaurant, heaping plates were served with glossy house-made cloverleaf rolls — which became famous in their own right — and various sides.

Over the decades and through four owners, AQ Chicken became the gathering place for birthdays, anniversaries, and any family occasion in that part of the world.

Bill Clinton celebrated a birthday there as president. George W. Bush made a campaign stop there, and once had the chicken catered to Air Force One. In some years, it was delivered to the Miss America Pageant.

At that point, after all those years, AQ Chicken had lost its luster. Quality had gone down after years of cutting costs. COVID-19 was particularly hard on the business. The owner at the time, Dick Bradley, had a chance to sell the land, so he did. It would be replaced by a car wash.

Except that one local family refused to let AQ Chicken die and disappear.

Tom Lundstrum and his wife Robin Lundstrum, their daughter Gracie Lively and her husband Jacob Lively bought the property rights to AQ Chicken. And, now, it is reborn.

AQ Chicken redux reopened in July in downtown Springdale. It’s a new location — they took over a historic bank vault in town and converted it — because the land where the original restaurant stood was in a flood zone.

But the Lundstrum/Lively family has gone to great lengths to recreate what AQ Chicken was in its heyday. Now Tom is determined for AQ Chicken to become the best spot for fried chicken in the country.

“We don’t see ourselves as owners of a restaurant. We see ourselves as stewards of a tradition,” said Tom.

“I have eaten here for 55 years. It was part of my childhood. My grandparents have eaten here. My parents have eaten here. My kids have eaten here,” he added. “When it came available, it was either us buy it, or it gets torn down and disappears. And that just was not tolerable to me, to lose part of our culture.”

A passion project

Recreating a restaurant that closed three years ago is one thing.

Recreating a restaurant that evokes potent memories and emotions across generations is quite another. Some want it to be what it was 60 years ago, while others remember it 20 years ago, or 10.

Add to that the fact that neither the Lundstrums nor the Livelys had any restaurant operation experience — other than Robin, who worked in a restaurant when she was young and swore to never own or work in a restaurant again.

Robin, however, is a state Representative (R-Elm Springs) and the Lundstrums are partners in investment company Catalyst Capital, where Gracie worked in marketing and her husband Jacob has worked as an attorney. Their family office owns the restaurant, but they declined to share the amount of the investment.

Tom, who is retired, describes himself as a serial entrepreneur.

The family admits they didn’t really know what they were signing up for when they made the decision to buy the restaurant. "We knew enough to be dangerous," joked Gracie.

Tom added, “People always asked me what scared me the most about doing this. It’s competing against people’s memories. Memories are not always accurate, but they’re intense. And that’s tough.”

The new-and-improved AQ Chicken uses mostly the same recipes, and the same core menu, though trimmed way back.

The most important part was getting the chicken right.

“I said early on, we can screw up some things, but we cannot screw up the chicken,” said Tom.

It took some sleuthing, but the new owners were able to track down long-retired former employees who knew the original seasoning recipe, for example, and who could demonstrate how it was done back in the day. Of course, they had recipes, but some things are difficult to capture with a written recipe, like how a certain dishes should smell while cooking, or the exact thickness of a batter.

Add to that the modern challenges of running a restaurant. The new owners are determined to restore quality and avoid shortcuts.

For a time, for example, the restaurant had switched to two-piece rolls, which were cheaper to produce, rather than three-piece cloverleaf. But the original cloverleaf recipe is back.

“We made a commitment early on to do it the traditional way,” said Tom. “We’re not going to make as much. But I’m not going to be making a living out of this. It’s a passion project.”

The Lundstrums and Livelys have hired Good Gravy Group, based in Bentonville, to operate AQ Chicken. Known as the management company for brands like Tusk & Trotter, Brothers Meethouse, and Leroy Sporting Lounge, Good Gravy is fully aligned with the goal of bringing AQ Chicken back to glory days, said Managing Partner April Seggebruch.

The new owners are astute business people, she said, "I give them a lot of respect because their heart’s in the right spot.”

For Good Gravy, however, it was a huge operational challenge, she noted.

After the “Herculean” task of finding the recipes, the menu had to be built with today’s palates in mind, she said.

“We’ve told them some things would be hard, but we haven’t had to say no to anything yet,” she said. “There’s no ‘no.’”

There were non-negotiables, like the chicken and the rolls, for example. (“The chicken is ungodly good,” she added.)

But there are also some new items, like the Ozark Smothered, which includes a fried chicken breast under gravy with Swiss cheese, onions, and other vegetables. “That came from the old menu, but we added a little flare to it,” Seggebruch said.

They also brought in some chicken sandwiches, and a new way of doing chicken salad, along with a few new desserts.

Prices range from about $14 to $17 for entrees, but one plate dubbed “Roy’s Way,” is $19.47 (for the year it opened) and includes three types of chicken (over the coals, pan-fried and barbecued) on one plate with two sides.

Hospitality wise, the new owners also wanted the restaurant to feel like a step into grandma’s kitchen, she added. Members of the Lundstrum and Lively families have pledged to be there as much as possible to maintain that community feel.

“They’re approaching the brand in a very balanced way of cherishing and protecting old memories and properly modernizing it,” she said.

Then and now

The original AQ Chicken on Ritter’s farm was quite small. But owners over the years — which included TCBY founder Frank Hickingbotham at one point — added to the property. By 2023, it had grown to about 330 seats with additions.

The new location is about 140 seats with another 20 outside. The Lundstrums/Livelys saved the original neon sign, and a statue of Big Red, a chicken who now stands in the entrance.

“It’s good luck to rub his wattles,” said Gracie.

On the hostess stand is a cheery greeting, “Hi Hon,” which is how 41-year-employee Jerri Broyles used to greet guests. One of the “Original Golden Girls,” as longtime employees called themselves, “Miss Jerri” passed away, but her family has been in, and her original name tag is on the wall.

And, just like the original restaurant, there’s a toy chest for kids to grab a trinket. It’s not the original, but the contractor who worked on the renovation offered one built by his grandfather. “He wanted to be part of it,” said Gracie.

Like the original, there’s a guest book for travelers to sign, and a map with pushpins to show where they traveled from.

Unlike the original, AQ Chicken now serves beer and wine. Soon, brunch will be added with champagne, because nothing goes better with fried chicken, Tom noted.

So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, Tom said, with an average wait time of about an hour and a half most nights.

“It’s not because we’re slow. It’s because there are 100 people in front of you,” he said.

Most people say they nailed the chicken recipe, but there are always the complainers. Some say it’s too salty, and others say it’s not salted enough, said Gracie.

Because the menu was cut way back, some go away disappointed that their favorite dish is no longer there, like Cheddar Chicken, though some dishes may come back for a spin as a limited-time offer.

Tom shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “Some of the old recipes weren’t that good.”

But Tom is determined to keep the menu simple and focused for now.

“Until we get that bone-in chicken perfect every time, there’s no reason to change the menu. That’s what we’re about,” he said. “I want to be recognized as the best bone-in fried chicken in the country.”

Beyond that, though, it's really about nostalgia.

Tom gave the example of a 96-year-old who came in recently. The guest said she had dined at the restaurant in 1947, driving with her fiancé to get married. After the wedding, they stopped by the restaurant again on the way back.

“So far, she’s the only one who could tell me what it was like originally,” Tom said. “She loved it.

“She didn’t have a clue if that chicken or anything tasted the way it did in 1947. But what you did know was that she was reliving the day she was there in 1947. And that’s exactly what we want,” he said. “The food to me is secondary to the memories.”