MISSOULA — Why did M-80 Chicken cross the road? To get to its new iconic location. The business is expanding from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar, taking over the old Shack Cafe restaurant in Downtown Missoula.
Nick Jackson and McKenna Cramer, the Missoula couple behind M-80, were keeping an eye on potential restaurant spaces after nearly five years of serving hot chicken in the food truck. Once they saw The Shack space, they were sold.
“A restaurant has kind of been an end goal for a while, but it seemed really far off for a long time for us,” McKenna Cramer said . “It was the right thing for us. It just really felt like a perfect fit, so that really pushed us to take the next step. It was really all about the location.”
The Shack was a Missoula staple from 1949 until it closed in 2022. The couple plan to preserve that history by restoring the bar, the vintage booths, the chandeliers and other pieces from the original restaurant.
“We've done a little bit of renovations here and there, but we're really doing our best to kind of keep the old, funky, Downtown Missoula vibes that The Shack provided,” Cramer said. “We want to try to pay homage to the iconic restaurant that came before us in this space, while still putting a little bit of a twist on it and fixing it up a little bit.”
The new location is the realization of the couple’s dream to give something back to the Missoula community.
“We've been up here for over 10 years now, came up for college and just wanted to stay,” Jackson said. “It's a classic, classic story.”
But, Jackson could not find hot chicken, one of his favorite foods, in town. So, he started making it for himself, then friends and, eventually, all of Missoula. Jackson and Cramer opened up M-80 in 2020, when they both lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think my favorite moment was the first real moment when we opened our truck back in 2020, we were very overwhelmed by the amount of support we had. We sold out in 30 minutes. We were under-prepared. We didn't really know what we were doing yet, but there was a line down the block,” Cramer said.
In the years since, M-80 has grown into a Missoula-staple and the owners are excited for a change. Even so, it is bittersweet for them to say goodbye to the parking lot on Myrtle Street where they have been serving up chicken for so long.
“We've gotten to meet so many cool people and build so many relationships and it's been one of the most fun times of my life,” Jackson said.
While it is the end of an era, it is the start of a new one. The couple is excited for the new chapter.
“We're nervous. We're excited. We have a lot of feelings going on right now. It's been really crazy busy and we're figuring it out as we go,” Cramer said. “But, we know it's going to be a really wonderful spot for the community to come hang out and enjoy some really good food.”
Chicken will stay at the core of the menu, along with some fun new additions. The couple want it to be a continuation of the truck.
“We wanted to have a little bit of almost a dive-y feel. We want it to be comfortable. We want you to feel like you can hang out for a while,” Cramer said. “We're not going to be rushing anyone through the tables or anything.”
The M-80 truck is sticking around for community events, like Brew Fest, Downtown Tonight and Out to Lunch. Early this summer, the doors will open on the new chicken coop.
“We've had overwhelming support since we've announced we're opening the restaurant. We've had overwhelming support since we opened the trucks,” Cramer said. “We really couldn't do it without all of our customers, the local businesses that support us, all of our contractors. We feel so lucky to be in Missoula, in this community and we're really looking forward to giving back more.”
