Bojangles’ Inc, a Charlotte, N.C.-based chicken-and-biscuits restaurant chain, plans to issue stock to become a publicly traded company.
The filing for the initial public offering of common stock comes from Advent International Corp., which has backed the restaurant chain and hopes to take advantage of the elevated stock market for many restaurant chains.
Bojangles’ filing follows the successful listing of cult hamburger chain Shake Shack Inc in January.
Bojangles’, which records most of its sales in the morning, has a menu centered on chicken and biscuits, which has remained largely unchanged since the company was founded in North Carolina in 1977.
The company has 254 company-operated and 368 franchised restaurants, mainly located in the southeastern United States.
In the Chattanooga area, Bojangles operates franchised restaurants in East Ridge, Hixson, Chattanooga, East Brainerd, Fort Oglethorpe, Cleveland, Tenn., Dalton, Ga., and Chatsworth, Ga.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Bojangles’ average check was $6.68 at company-operated restaurants in 2014, making it more expensive than dining at a McDonald’s Corp or a Wendys Co (WEN.O) outlet.
Bojangles’ net income last year rose 7.4 percent to $26 million on revenues of $430.5 million, up 15 percent from the previous year.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities and Jefferies are the lead underwriters of the offering.
Reuters said the regulatory filing had a nominal fundraising target of $100 million but did not state how many shares the company or its shareholders planned to sell or their expected price.
The company said it intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol “BOJA”.
The iconic Southern restaurant chain has mulled an IPO for months, and The Wall Street Journal reported last November that the company was considering going public at a $1 billion valuation.