Monday, June 6, 2011
News The Chicken and Biscuit Express: Bojangles' Targets Nashville for Expansion
Posted by Dana Kopp Franklin on Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 3:59 PM
The company says it has an aggressive plan for growth in the Nashville area, as I report in today's Food Biz column in the print edition of The City Paper and online in the Nashville Post.
Executive vice president Eric Newman is bullish (or should that be roosterish?) on Nashville, which he compares to the home base of Charlotte in food culture and key regional location.
As Newman regaled me with a description of how Bojangles' makes the bone-in chicken from scratch in each restaurant, using fresh (not frozen) chicken that gets marinated for 12 hours in house before a labor-intensive eight-step course of hand-breading, I felt like my credulity was having trouble keeping up with my ears.
Newman also says the biscuits are made by hand in each store, from scratch, every 20 minutes. “Biscuits are an art form,” he says. “It’s a highly honored position in our restaurants. It’s an intricate, delicate process to manage.”
At 500 different locations. My mind boggles.
I've never eaten Bojangles' — though I believe the subject has come up before on Bites comments — and I certainly like the menu concept of chicken, fresh biscuits, Cajun pintos and dirty rice. Anybody want to chime in on the quality issue, especially as competitor Church's seems to be flying away from the Nashville chicken scene?
Comments (16)
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There was a Bojangles for years and years in Hendersonville - I had no idea it had gone away. All I remember is that our English Setter loved those chicken biscuits.
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I believe the Taco Bell by St. Thomas used to be a Bojangles. The dirty rice and the chicken biscuits were certainly better than anything TB has to offer.
There is a Bojangles in Murfreesboro currently. Went by there for breakfast recently and the biscuits are as good as ever. Better than Hardees...
There was a Bojangles in Green Hills where the Exxon is now at the corner of Abbott Martin and Hillsboro. My brother worked there in high school. I wasn't a chicken and biscuit person, but I liked the dirty rice.
It's been years since I had Bojangles and the biscuits might be better, but for fast food fried chicken...it's gotta be Popeyes. Best chicken and best gravy fo sho. I've sworn off the one on Jefferson though. That place has a terrible record (with me) for getting anything through the drive-through correct. Slouchy. Slouchy is as slouchy does. They don't give a rat's patoot.
There was also a Bojangles on West End where the Jack In the Box is now, I believe. They definitely used to have a presence here in the '80s.
There used to be a Bojangles at Brick Church Pike & Trinity Lane back in the day. They were the first ones I remember serving biscuits instead of rolls with their dinners. Now everyone does it. And, like several others, the dirty rice had me hooked. What did they put in that stuff anyway?!
I could have cut and pasted the word Church's for Bojangle's in this post and it would have been almost word-for-word the same story as I heard from their representatives last year.
From aggressive expansion plans to made from scratch biscuits to marinated bone-in chicken. It's spooky. And the guy I talked to from Church's used to work for Popeye's, so there's obviously some incestuous cross-breeding in the spicy chicken sector.
That being said, I used to love Bojangles back in high school and would bring dozens of their biscuits to meetings in place of donuts. Does anyone else remember the "Where Bo be now?" campaign?
One of my earliest memories of coming to Nashville as a child (from KY) was when my aunt brought my cousins & I down to the Barnum & Bailey circus. We stopped at Bojangles (the Brick Church Pike & Trinity Lane one) for breakfast on the way into town. I still remember how much I loved that chicken and biscuit! And also how much I loved the hot pink blow up tiger on a stick that I bought at the circus.
As many Wolfpack allumni can attest, I lived off of Bojangles as a college student. There's no better cure for a hangover than a cajun filet biscuit, dirty rice and some sweet tea. On Sunday mornings the line in Bojangles would wind outside of the restaurant with a mix of just-rolled-out-of-bed college students and the church crowd just to get a taste of some cajun-fried chicken and buttery bicuits. Whenever I make it back to Raleigh, I stop at the same location on Western Blvd for the chicken wing dinner. It tastes like home.
I have also eaten at the location off of Charlotte Pike. I usually make it a point to stop there when I'm heading to my parents' in Memphis. The staff is friendly, and the food is good, but not quite the same as it is in Raleigh. They just expanded into the DC area as well, and after speaking to some other college friends their sentiments are the same... It's just not the same.
I'm still excited that there may be a Bojangles closer to me, but I hope that they find a way to keep their products' integrity and quality like it is back home in North Carolina. And if they need a suggestioin of a new location, the old Jack in the Box location on the corner of Old Hickory Blvd and Edmonson Pike is still vacant.
Bojangles are everywhere in Charlotte. During the 2 years I lived there I never tried them. Probably my loss.
Was one on Charlotte Pike just north of White Bridge Road, think the building was knocked down for Auto Zone
Just had to say -- Pseudonym mentions Charlotte, where they originated, which we all know by now ... AND, ProudOfNashville remembers they were on Charlotte Pike.
Does anybody know where Charlotte pike got its name? I.E. Nolensville Road in Nashville is the road that leads to Nolensville; same with Murfreesboro Road, Franklin Pike, etc....
Does Charlotte Pike lead to Charlotte?????
I gotsta know....
Charlotte Pike was named for Charlotte Robertson, wife of James Robertson. It does eventually go to Charlotte, I'm told, and it would be a nice weekend drive to actually visit Charlotte TN. Wonder if there's good barbecue along the way...
Nicki, depending on how you get there, your BBQ options on the way to Charlotte are:
Chelsea B's BAR-B-Q - 4325 Hwy 70, White Bluff 615-336-1014
Carl's Perfect Pig Bar B Que - 4991 Hwy 70, White Bluff 615-797-4020
Bart's Bar B Que & Catfish - 211 Henslee Dr, Dickson 615-740-6870 www.bartsbbq.net
Bart's Bar B Que & Catfish - 1836 Hwy 46, Dickson 615-740-1272
Fossie Bar-B-Que - 603 E Walnut St, Dickson 615-446-8674
Once you get to Charlotte you can try The Pit - 450 Spring St., Charlotte 615-789-1232
You have to head north off of Charlotte/Hwy 70 to get to Charlotte, TN. Can't remember the Hwy, but it's an easy drive.
If you can wait until the last weekend of July, you can keep heading down Hwy 70 to McEwen and the Irish Picnic at St. Patricks School. That's some quality Bar-B-Q! Stock up on the sause if you go.
