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Pelicana Chicken, a fast-growing Korean fried chicken chain, is expanding to Long Island. 

The company will be opening a 1,350-square-foot store at 542 Woodbury Road in Plainview. 

Long Island’s first Pelicana Chicken eatery will be owned and operated by licensee Brian Kim, a former regional manager for the company. The Plainview location is a homecoming of sorts for the entrepreneur, who lived nearby for many years and frequented the La Piazetta pizzeria that had previously occupied the space. 

“It feels great to come back to my neighborhood and this is a dream come true moment,” Kim said. “Especially being the place where I used to eat pizza when I was a teenager. That brings back a lot of memories and I felt destined when the location became available.” 

Kim, who is supported in the operation by his wife Danbee, a paralegal with a fintech firm, has a lot of experience with the Pelicana brand. He learned the business from the ground up, working 10-hour days, six days a week at the chain’s first U.S. restaurant in Flushing. As its regional manager for the past seven years, he trained staff and helped open several of the chain’s locations in Queens, Brooklyn and New Jersey. 

“We wanted to make sure Long Island’s first entry was with the right person who can maintain the quality, taste, and freshness for Pelicana,” said Julie Kim, president and CEO of Pelicana USA East Coast. “Brian’s seven years of experience as regional manager, along with his involvement in various aspects of the business, certainly make him the right person. Having someone with a deep understanding of the brand and a proven track record can indeed be beneficial for a successful launch in a new location.” 

Pelicana offers an extensive menu that features fried chicken coated in Korean-inspired signature sauces with flavors like sweet and spicy, spicy barbecue and honey garlic. It also offers mochi donut cheese balls, spicy rice cakes, French fries and sweet potato fries, salads and much more. Earlier this year, Pelicana made Gotham Magazine’s list of best chicken wings in New York City. 

The Plainview location will have dine-in seating for about 20 people, but it will also offer online ordering, pick-up and delivery. 

“We change frying oil daily to keep that golden crust and we use the highest quality chicken,” Brian Kim said. “Sweet and Spicy, an authentic Korean signature sauce, is loved by Korean people that every generation knows since the Pelicana brand has a long history.” 

Founded in Daejeon, South Korea in 1982, Pelicana now has more than 3,000 locations worldwide with a presence in China, Australia, Mongolia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company entered the U.S. market in 2014 and has 28 stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Michigan, Cailfornia and Washington. 

Kim is planning to open the Pelicana Chicken store in Plainview towards the end of November. And if it goes as well as he expects, there will be more Long Island locations to follow. 

“I want to start with one first and do it the right way, so it’s successful,” he said.