Those who were disappointed by the closing of Maryland Fried Chicken in LaFayette are sure to be thankful for the Thanksgiving week reopening of the restaurant.
“We hope to get a chance of redemption and forgiveness for closing for a short term,” said Joshua Horne, who opened the location in early March of last year but had to close it in late September until he could find partners.
In the time his LaFayette restaurant was closed, a lot of local people drove to his Summerville location, he said. And every day during the recent LaFayette cleanup and revamp process, someone has stopped by asking for chicken, said Horne.
After restructuring management and realizing he and his wife could not manage two restaurants solo, he decided to bring in Robert and Judy Ellenburg to help with the LaFayette restaurant.
Staff photo by Katie Ward
Maryland Fried Chicken franchise owner Joshua Horne, of LaFayette, is ready to welcome patrons back to his restaurant that reopened the week of Thanksgiving.The Ellenburg family has owned and operated the LaFayette Fruit Market and the AAA Monument store, both located near MFC, for two decades.
“I picked them because they’ve had businesses here for 20 years,” said Horne, who originally put the business on Craig’s List. “The Ellenburgs know how to run businesses and like to work seven days a week and know how to take care of people because they’ve been in business so long.”
He said he’s optimistic the LaFayette location will do well again and that the Ellenburgs will be able to keep up with the high demand for the chicken.
“The demand is here for the food. The people want the food,” Horne said, adding that about 70 percent of the local restaurant’s business comes through the drive-thru. “When we first opened the restaurant last March there were cars lined up around the building and going down the road blocking traffic.”
The restaurant serves chicken breasts, wings, thighs, legs, livers and gizzards, as well as fish and shrimp, sides of fries, slaw, potato salad, fried okra, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried onion peels and hush puppies.
“The biggest-seller is our chicken strips. People get big buckets of chicken and feed their family at dinnertime,” Horne said.
Two and a half years ago, he and his wife used money they’d saved to bring the Florida-based fast food franchise to Summerville. Horne said the trick to their success is to take care of customers and employees and give them more in service than they feel like they are paying for.
“Food releases endorphins and makes you happy,” said Horne. “If they can tell you appreciate them, that’s the secret.”
Maryland Fried Chicken, at 1391 N. Main St. in LaFayette, can be reached at 706-638-0607.