A new Jaggers is set to open its doors at 8014 Bardstown Road in Louisville's Fern Creek neighborhood on Monday, bringing the fast-casual burger and chicken concept to a stretch of road that used to house a Rite Aid pharmacy. The restaurant has already hired more than 100 team members and is still accepting applications ahead of its debut.
According to The Courier-Journal, Jaggers announced the Fern Creek opening in a September 12 press release. The chain serves burgers, hand-breaded chicken tenders, salads, and sandwiches, along with what it calls signature scratch-made sauces and dressings. Its food is described as fresh and made to order, per the same report.
The site itself carries some local history: the property was formerly occupied by a Rite Aid pharmacy, according to Food & Dining Magazine. Louisville Metro District 22 officials held public neighborhood meetings on proposed rezoning for 8014 Bardstown Road and adjacent parcels, Case 26-ZONE-0001, per Louisville Metro Government.
Hours and a Growing Local Footprint
Once open, the Fern Creek Jaggers will run 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, the Courier-Journal reports. It adds another Jaggers location to the Louisville area.
Those existing Louisville-area locations have built up some local bragging rights, too. They have won the Courier-Journal's Louisville Community's Choice Award for Best Burger, according to the newspaper. The Best Burger recognition adds to the chain's local profile.
A Kent Taylor Concept Built to Rival Chick-fil-A
Jaggers traces back to 2014, when late Texas Roadhouse founder and CEO Kent Taylor created the brand with a blunt pitch for what he wanted it to become: what if Chick-fil-A and Five Guys got married and had a kid, as he put it, according to Nation's Restaurant News. The idea was to combine elements associated with those chains.
The brand has since spread beyond Kentucky. Jaggers now has locations across Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, and North Carolina, with one international site in South Korea, as Food Republic has reported. Systemwide, the chain has grown to 15 locations across multiple states.
Behind the Growth: A Texas Roadhouse Expansion Push
The Fern Creek opening lands amid a broader corporate push from parent company Texas Roadhouse to scale up its smaller concepts. Jaggers sales rose 58 percent in 2024, according to Texas Roadhouse's own figures.
That performance has prompted the company to loosen its own playbook. Texas Roadhouse had historically capped total system-wide new builds at roughly 30 per year, but CEO Jerry Morgan has said the company will exceed that pace to accelerate growth of spinoff concepts Bubba's 33 and Jaggers, targeting as many as eight new Jaggers locations in 2026, according to Restaurant Business. For franchisees looking to get in on that growth, the company has outlined plans to expand the Jaggers brand.
Louisville-based Texas Roadhouse has been investing closer to home as well. Just last month, the company expanded its corporate headquarters campus by purchasing the landmark Wright Tower on Dutchmans Lane for $12 million, a move Hoodline covered in August.
The Fern Creek build is part of the chain's broader expansion, too. Whether Texas Roadhouse plans additional regional Jaggers stores elsewhere in Kentucky, and how the new drive-thru traffic will interact with Bardstown Road near the Gene Snyder Freeway, remain open questions as the Fern Creek location prepares to welcome its first customers.
