A vacant Burger King building on Highland Park's main drag is getting new life as a fried chicken and waffle joint. The Chicken Coupe, the Metro Detroit chain that turned a former Belle Isle bathroom into a viral sensation, is now undergoing interior finishing work at 13324 Woodward Avenue, at the intersection with Beresford Street, with co-owner Weesam Ali saying the business is hoping to open around September 1.
The site sits directly across Woodward Avenue from The Highland Room Banquet Hall, a large event venue near the Davison Freeway that can host up to 450 guests, and shares a plaza with a Little Caesars Pizza, according to WhatNow. The building previously operated as a Burger King until it closed in April 2023, when franchisee EYM King of Michigan shuttered 26 Metro Detroit locations amid operational disputes with corporate management, as reported by ClickOnDetroit. Before the Chicken Coupe could move in, the City of Highland Park's Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on the property in February, part of the municipal approval process required for reusing the former drive-through structure.
From Food Truck to Four Storefronts
The Chicken Coupe didn't start out as a brick-and-mortar chain. The business began as a mobile food truck in Detroit in 2011 and spent seven years building a following before expanding into permanent locations in Dearborn, Southgate and Belle Isle, per the same account from ClickOnDetroit. Once open, the Highland Park spot will give the company its fourth Metro Detroit storefront.
The Belle Isle location earned the chain its biggest wave of attention yet last year, when it opened inside a repurposed former public restroom facility on the island. Online skeptics balked at the idea of eating fried chicken where a bathroom once stood, but the owners leaned into the joke with a self-deprecating video marketing campaign that ended up driving record sales, according to ClickOnDetroit's coverage of the opening.
What's on the Menu
The Highland Park location is expected to serve the same lineup that built the brand's following elsewhere: chicken and waffles, mac and cheese loaded with fried chicken, and loaded hashbrown bowls topped with cheese. The Chicken Coupe's posted menu lists signature items including Mama's Full Order Chicken & Waffle for $17.99, The Firebird Mac-Stack for $14.99, and the Sweet Firebird Chicken Sandwich for $15.99, built around fried chicken tenders and the restaurant's proprietary spicy Firebird sauce.
Ali's ownership group has another Metro Detroit hit on its hands beyond fried chicken. He also co-owns Amo Sami's Shawarma, which markets itself as having started the crispy shawarma movement in the area, per the restaurant's own advertising, and operates multiple locations around Metro Detroit, including Dearborn, Wayne and Sterling Heights. The shawarma spot was voted among the top five in Metro Detroit in WDIV ClickOnDetroit's 2026 Vote 4 The Best contest, which drew more than 163,000 votes cast across 80 categories regionally.
A Commercial Corridor Looking to Rebuild
The new restaurant is opening in a city facing real economic headwinds. Highland Park is a 2.97-square-mile enclave surrounded by Detroit, home to roughly 8,628 residents with a median household income of $29,309 and a poverty rate of 40.9%, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates covering 2020 through 2024. Woodward Avenue, designated M-1, is the city's principal commercial corridor and a National Scenic Byway that has drawn more than $300 million in commercial, industrial, and residential investment in recent years, including retail centers like Model T Plaza, per the City of Highland Park.
Highland Park was the historic birthplace of Henry Ford's Model T mass production, and the city continues working to rebuild its retail tax base along Woodward. A new fast-casual restaurant filling a long-vacant fast-food building fits into that broader push, even as the surrounding community continues to face significant economic challenges.
No firm opening date has been set yet, but the Chicken Coupe has said it will post updates on its Facebook page as the September 1 target approaches. For now, the Highland Park building remains mid-renovation, with the old Burger King shell slowly being converted into the chain's newest home for chicken, waffles and its signature Firebird sauce.
