Bojangles debuts first food truck in latest expansion move. Here’s what’s coming up.

Bojangles is hitting the road with a new food truck, but not in its hometown.

On Saturday, the Charlotte-based fast-food chain best known for its fried chicken and biscuits will roll out its first food truck in Nashville with its initial stop in Centennial Park.

There already are 70 Bojangles stores in Tennessee with five in the Nashville area, according to the company website. And more are planned, the Observer previously reported.

“Bojangles has been looking for innovative ways to break into different markets,” said Bojangles spokeswoman Stacey McCray. She said tapping into Nashville’s thriving food truck scene is another way to reach more customers.

The 8-by-32-foot food truck decked out in new Bojangles branding will target areas from downtown to business parks, neighborhoods and college campuses, McCray said.

The truck menu will include the new Bo’s chicken sandwich, as well as chicken tenders, seasoned fries, biscuits, pimento cheese and iced tea.

If the food truck does well in Nashville, McCray said Bojangles will likely bring the truck to more cities. McCray didn’t say if that would include Charlotte.

Bojangles food truck made a test drive last month in New York City, giving away more than 2,100 chicken sandwiches, McCray said.

To find the new Bo’s Food Truck, follow Instagram or check the Best Food Trucks app.

Reaching more customers

The food truck is part of Bojangles expansion plan to reach additional customers just as more Southern chicken chains expand in its hometown turf.

Arkansas-based Slim Chickens is set to open its first store in the Charlotte in the fall. Biscuitville opened its second store in February in Concord. And last month, Chick-fil-A opened another store in Belmont.

This spring, Bojangles announced plans to open nearly 90 stores, including to debut stores in Ohio, New York and Texas, as well as returning to Orlando, Florida, the Observer previously reported. More stores also will open in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Chaac Foods Restaurants will open 40 Bojangles stores over the next seven years with the first stores opening next years. Chaac Foods, acquired by Gauge Capital in 2019, operates Pizza Huts, Applebee’s, Panda Express and other restaurants.

And longtime franchisee Jeff Rigsby of North Carolina will open 45 locations over the next seven years, beginning the end of this year.

Last year, Bojangles opened its first Illinois and Arkansas stores as part of 40 restaurants opening at Love’s Travel Stops.

The company last year also rebranded, dropping the apostrophe from the end of its name and gaining NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. as a celebrity spokesman.

The iconic Southern chain was founded in 1977 in Charlotte and has more than 760 restaurants throughout the Southeast. The chain was sold to two New York firms, Durational Capital Management and The Jordan Co., in 2019.

This story was originally published August 9, 2021 at 2:17 PM.