ELIZABETHTOWN — A potential Bojangles’ restaurant here has cleared a zoning hurdle, but is yet to file a building permit.
The popular fast-food restaurant chain has been rumored to arrive in Bladen County off and on for years. This represents the closest realization for the hopes of many in a county of better than 30,000 just under three hours from the restaurant’s 1977 Charlotte origins.
The site of the new restaurant would be where the Cape Fear BBQ was previously, at 310 S. Poplar St.
The town of Elizabethtown has approved a zoning permit that was applied for Dec. 5; however, no building permits have been issued.
“We cannot confirm a restaurant at this time in Elizabethtown, but please feel free to reach out to me in a few weeks,” said Cliff Cermak, the media relations manager of Bojangles’ Restaurants, Inc.
Bojangles’ has locations in every major direction from Elizabethtown, to include Whiteville, Wallace, Clinton, Fayetteville and Lumberton.
The restaurant, a successful idea of Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas, offered franchises in its second year and went public on the NASDAQ in 2015. Common stock trading ended Jan. 28 with completion of an all-cash acquisition by Durational Capital Management and The Jordan Company, who said it would operate as an independent, privately-held company with headquarters remaining in Charlotte.
Bojangles’ stockholders are receiving $16.10 per share in cash.
The restaurant chain obtained a trademark for Legendary Iced Tea and is known for serving breakfast all day, hand-breaded bone-in chicken and biscuits made from scratch on its Southern recipes menu. As of Dec. 30, Bojangles’ had 759 restaurants, of which 440 were franchised.
The chain is primarily in the southeastern United States. Durational, an investment firm, and Jordan, a private-equity firm, are each headquartered in New York.
The potential site for a Bojangles’ in Elizabethtown is 310 S. Poplar St., across from KFC and Taco Bell.