How mom's recipe and culinary confidence fuel this small-town chicken spot

MOSSVILLE — Rick Hutchison decided the best way to brave the restaurant business in the post-COVID era was to be chicken.

Literally, a menu full of chicken.

Hutchison has become commander of his chicken recipes in a path similar to a famous colonel.

"The Colonel started KFC when he was 62," said Hutchison, laughing. "When I started my version, I was in my 50s. There's a lot to be afraid of in this business. But you believe in your idea, in your product and you go for it.

"That's what I've done."

Peoria business: Work is being done at this shopping center. Here's what we know about the project

What he's done is a restaurant called Rick's Crispy Chicken, and it's hugely popular. Operating in a small roadside building (10516 N. State St., Mossville), near Detweiller Park off Illinois Route 29, both locals and passersby have made it a must-stop place to eat.

"Pretty much, I've done chicken my whole life," said Hutchison, 62. "As a teenager I worked for Opal's Truck Stop in East Peoria, doing dishes on the weekend. Then a neighbor told me I could go get a job that was open at Brown's Chicken. There were three stores, and mine was on Knoxville Avenue. I started off as a cook, and 14 years went by."

The recipe for success

Hutchison is an East Peoria High School grad.

At age 21, he became a father and took over as general manager at Brown's. He has two biological sons, Greg and Erick, and he and his wife, Amy, adopted a third boy, Jacob, when he was 6.

"He is autistic, he's 27 now," Hutchison said. "We adopted him from Lutheran Social Services. We just fell in love with him. We had a lot to deal with, a lot of stuff. It was difficult for a while."

His sons have all chosen different paths, one a mechanic, one working in hotels. Hutchison has never wavered from his own path to work in the food industry, though. And chicken is what he learned best.

The path to Rick's Crispy Chicken

"On my last day of work at Brown's, I drove past Weaver's Chicken, saw there was a job opening and applied and was hired immediately," Hutchison said. "I went on to manage them. Old-time, home-made recipes. Then they closed. I was tired of working for people."

So he bought Maid-Rite, in Pekin, and ran it for four years. Then he got a job offer from KFC, so he sold Maid-Rite. He took the KFC job, the local owner went bankrupt, and Hutchison was job-hunting again. He landed as a cafeteria manager for Peoria School District 150, mostly stationed at Richwoods High School.

Sign up for PJStar Dining: Looking for the scoop on Peoria restaurants?

"Gave them almost 10 years," Hutchison said. "I loved working in food and with the kids. But just too much drama. I decided it was time to open up Rick's Crispy Chicken."

And he knew just where to do it.

What's in a name?

"I would always drive past this ice cream place on my way to work in Pekin, and it was always empty," Hutchison said. "I thought, 'That place has such potential, great traffic area. Why is no one there?'

"I took the phone number down, and I'm still here today."

That roadside place off Rt. 29 was owned by a man named Bob Miller. Hutchison signed a lease to launch his business in the place. It was 2019 and COVID was beginning.

"It was scary during that time," Hutchison said. "I ran the place day and night by myself. Just determined to do it. I had a one-year lease. Then a second year. After three years, I bought it from his family (Miller had died)."

He said his thought was to do crispy chicken as the central theme of his menu. That part was easy. A name was harder.

"I actually didn't want to call it Rick's," Hutchison said. "But my wife insisted. I said, 'Who is going to go to a place called Rick's Crispy Chicken?' She said, 'You do know they are eating the food, not the name?'

"And she was right. It worked."

And from where did Hutchison develop his recipes and his chicken-themed menu? Well, for that, there was no place like home.

"My mother (Nancy) always made Sunday dinner and it was always chicken," he said. "I watched her as a kid growing up. I watched everything she did. I remember her frying it in big old cast-iron skillets.

"So I took her basic recipe and added to it."

KFC, tenders, and 'really good food'

Rick's Crispy Chicken is open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and you'll find Hutchison on hand making sure his standards are met.

"I have people working for me now," he said. "I take about three hours off a day. Restaurants are closing all over. They are failing. I thought I would be able to retire and never work again. But even KFC is not immune. Their store on Glen Avenue (in Peoria) that closed down, that was a $1.5 million store. I know. I once worked there. There's just no customer service anymore in the business.

"That's where we're different."

Chicken, coffee and cocktails: 6 restaurants and bars coming soon to the Peoria area

Hutchison is the founder, owner, keeper of the recipe, the fresh chicken buyer, the food preparer, the fry cook, the drive-thru window attendant and everything else you can imagine. Whatever it takes. He's done it all. And he has employees now to whom he passes on his knowledge of the business, and his expectations.

"My fried chicken and my tenders are what people need to try when they come here," Hutchison said. "The tenders are homemade. I cut them from scratch, bread them, it's fresh, never frozen, chicken brought in twice a week. I buy the best chicken there is.

"I know the business, I was trained, I've seen every aspect of it. I used some of the tools I learned from all three restaurants I've worked in. And bottom line, we serve really good food."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or [email protected]. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Rick's Crispy Chicken: Mossville restaurant uses mom's recipe decades of experience