Bojangles opened its doors at 5 a.m. Tuesday at 3050 State Road 436 in Apopka, and the chicken-and-biscuits chain wasted no time rewarding the early risers. The first 50 dine-in customers walked away with $100 gift cards, and 10 lucky guests won a shot at free breakfast for an entire year through an opening promotion.
The new restaurant marks Bojangles' seventh location in the Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne market, according to WFTV. The chain, known for its hand-breaded chicken, biscuits and sweet tea, was founded in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1977 and now operates more than 890 company-owned and franchised restaurants across 24 states. Jose Armario said the Apopka opening celebrates the people of the city, per the same report.
Filling In a Corridor Orange County Watched Grow
Bojangles already runs restaurants in Sanford, Clermont and Kissimmee, and the Apopka store extends that footprint along State Road 436. Hoodline has tracked the region's food and drink scene.
Bojangles filed a restaurant license application with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation for the 3050 State Road 436 address back in November, according to WhatNow Orlando.
A Market Bojangles Once Walked Away From
The Apopka debut is part of a calculated return to a region Bojangles abandoned in late 2015, when it shuttered eight Orlando-area franchise locations and laid off workers, as WFTV reported at the time. The chain officially restarted its Central Florida footprint in September 2022, almost six years after the closures, with a location at 101 South Oregon Avenue in Sanford.
That comeback traces back to a May 2021 development agreement between Bojangles and Chaac Foods Restaurants, a franchise operator. The 40-store “40 and 40” deal called for 15 new Orlando-area restaurants over seven years, part of the strategic pivot the chain made after private equity firms Durational Capital Management and The Jordan Company took it private in 2019 for approximately $593.7 million, according to QSR Magazine.
More Central Florida Sites Already in the Pipeline
Apopka is not the last stop for the chain's regional buildout. Bojangles has plans for another Central Florida location at 17981 West Space Coast Parkway in Winter Garden's Four Corners Plaza, according to WhatNow Orlando reporting that originally surfaced via the Orlando Business Journal.
Nationally, Bojangles has said it wants to grow from roughly 850 stores across 20 states to more than 1,000 locations across 31 states over the next five years, per Nation's Restaurant News. That push has included expansion into New York and Texas, and Hoodline has previously reported on Bojangles' plans for 25 Tampa Bay stores as part of the same statewide strategy.
To support that expansion, Bojangles has been rolling out modernized restaurant prototypes featuring open-view “Biscuit Theatres” and streamlined kitchen models meant to boost drive-thru efficiency and ease labor demands, according to Tasting Table. The chain has been rolling out those design changes as it works to compete against entrenched fast-food chicken rivals along busy suburban corridors like State Road 436.
