Plucky Mr. Chicken isn?t afraid of a bit of competition ? that?s why its new restaurant is only a few doors away from KFC in Hamilton.

The home-grown fast food restaurant has found premises in the centre of the city after Ice Queen called it a day in Queen Street, opposite the Little Theatre.

By this weekend customers will be able to pop into the new Mr. Chicken outlet, which has relocated from its previous home at the bottom of Collector?s Hill in Smith?s.

The move to the city brings Mr. Chicken into direct competition with near neighbour and US franchise giant KFC. But the close proximity of two fast food ?chicken? restaurants is not something concerning Mr. Chicken manager Tamara Hammer-Furbert.

?We?re not too worried. We have a lot of different items on our menu that KFC doesn?t. Apart from chicken we have seafood, burgers, cheese sticks, pizza and we also accept credit cards,? said Ms Hammer-Furbert.

This week has been a busy transition with the Smith?s restaurant closing down last Saturday and some of the equipment being transported to the new location in Hamilton. The new Mr. Chicken will employ about twice as many staff as the Smith?s outlet did.

?We have always been looking for a location in town. Then Ice Queen sold up. It already had restaurant equipment in place, although we?ve brought some of our pieces as well,? she explained.

The story of Mr. Chicken, which also has an outlet next to Heron Bay Market Place, began more than 20 years ago when David and Beryl Furbert visited a chicken restaurant in the US and looking around thought to themselves they could open up a similar enterprise in Bermuda.

?My dad had this vision. They came back and looked for a chicken seasoning and once they had that it all started,? said Ms Hammer-Furbert. She has been helping out in the family business, taking orders and such like, since she was eight years old. Some 20 years later she is now a manager on the corporate side.

It is planned the new Mr. Chicken in Hamilton will be open for the weekend. It will operate from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, except Sunday when it will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There hasn?t been too much alteration to the look of the former Ice Queen restaurant, although the menu board is obviously different.

Ms Hammer-Furbert said: ?We think it will do really well. Lots of kids used to like to come to the Ice Queen when it was open. It?s a good location. It?s going to be tremendously busy.?

With hungry chicken lovers flocking to Queen Street the question is whether the town is big enough for two chicken restaurants so close together. A spokesman said KFC expects to release a statement early next week on its new competition.