A franchisee for the chicken fast-food chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has opened its second new restaurant in Chattanooga in the past eight months with a new location at Highway 153 and Hamill Road.
The new Popeyes at 5117 Highway 153 was opened over the weekend by Supreme Cajun Foods, a privately owned restaurant company headquartered in Mayfield, Kentucky.
Popeyes is a Cajun chicken fast-food restaurant founded in 1972 in New Orleans that now operates nearly 3,000 restaurants across the nation through its franchised network. George Cleveland, director of operations for Supreme's Popeyes restaurants, said the chain is looking at other sites in Chattanooga, but he declined to specify any locations for competitive reasons.
"This location is good," Cleveland said in an interview at the new restaurant explaining the reason for the new site.
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Another new Popeyes restaurant opened on Gunbarrel Road in East Brainerd in April. Other Popeyes in the Chattanooga market in East Ridge and on Highway 58 are owned by another franchisee — NRD Holdings LLC in Atlanta.
In Chattanooga, NRD has closed outlets in Brainerd and on the Southside, but Cleveland said Supreme Cajun Foods has not closed a Popeyes since the company was started in 2012. The Popeyes at 5749 Brainerd Road closed last year, and Popeyes' first unit in Chattanooga at 3352 S. Broad St. closed earlier this year after nearly 22 years of operation.
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A rival fast-food chicken chain, Bojangles, closed its store on Hixson Pike in August after operating there for four decades and also shut down its longtime fast-food chicken restaurant on 23rd Street this year.
The new Popeyes along Highway 153 includes both a dining room and a drive-through window and is among a half dozen restaurants that have opened or are being built near Northgate Mall, either along Highway 153 or Hixson Pike.
In the past three years, Buddy's Bar-b-q, Miller's Ale House and McAlister's Deli opened restaurants nearby, and three other restaurants are under development, including two new entries into the Chattanooga market — Big Chicken in a former Steak 'n Shake site on Hixson Pike and a Cava restaurant being built behind the Logan's Roadhouse on Highway 153.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.