| By Neil Johnson, anchor/reporter Big Radio News |

If there’s a fried chicken gantlet, it has been thrown.

Layne’s Chicken Fingers has opened this week, and it’s one of two new fried chicken restaurants that have been slated to jump into the hyper-competitive “Restaurant Row” along Janesville’s Milton Avenue and Humes Road commercial corridor.

Darlington native Luke Bergeson says his family’s brand-new Layne’s, a sit-down and drive-thru fried chicken fingers restaurant, is the first of its kind anywhere outside of the chain’s home state of Texas.

But he says the Layne’s Chicken Fingers—and his family’s franchise ownership—feel right at home inside a former Fazoli’s at 2105 Humes Road on the city’s northeast-side retail strip.

That’s where 50,000 vehicles a day cross at the nexus of Humes Road and Milton Avenue.

Much of that traffic is local — Bergson’s favorite kind.

“The nice thing about Janesville is it’s got a lot of things drawing people in, but the thing that drew me in was I’m originally from Darlington, Wisconsin, a small farm town. When I came here, I was like, ‘man, these are my kind of people,’” Bergeson says. “It has a small-town feel wherever you go.”

So, how does the new chicken restaurant compete with the bevvy of fried poultry powerhouses already clustered to the left and right along Janesville’s main retail spur? There’s Popeye’s, Chick-Fil-A, KFC – and by next year, a Raising Cane’s drive thru chicken restaurant just across Humes Road, at the former Famous Dave’s site.

That tally doesn’t count convenience store chain Kwik Trip’s aggressive marketing of its own fried chicken at not one, but two, locations that are adjacent to the Layne’s Chicken Fingers.

It’s all within a half-mile of each other along Humes  and Milton Ave. You could call that Chicken Boulevard.

Layne’s is a small chain that stakes its claim on simplicity and consistency, eschewing a huge, bombastic menu and flashy store design for a more spartan, roadside diner feel. Mainly, you get offered fried chicken fingers, crinkle fries and Texas toast on the side, but with handmade sauces and handmade milkshakes.

Bergson says his new Layne’s secret is to focus heavily on one main thing—crispy fried chicken fingers—and do it well. He says that means marinating every chicken tender for 48 hours.

“All we do is chicken tenders, so it’s gotta be perfect,” Bergeson says. “Like, we have one person just focusing on chicken all day. Not frying it, just preparing and marinating the chicken. One person just doing that prep work. That’s their one job, all day.”

Moreover, Bergeson says he thinks a key way to compete in Janesville is simply to recognize the golden rule of small towns everywhere.

“You can’t control their taste buds, but what you can control is how you take care of each other, and continue on that small-town Janesville feel where everybody knows everybody, everybody takes care of everybody,” Bergeson says.

“We’re trying to combine the universal love of chicken and the universal love of just being good to each other.”