On April 2, Zaxbys held the grand opening of their new location on 127 East Franklin St.
At 10 a.m., Zaxbys Chief Operating Officer Sharlene Smith and Vice President of Operations Horace Williams, along with seven other Zaxbys team members held a ribbon cutting in front of the restaurant.
Smith said the restaurant currently employs 55 local staff members, along with a management team. She added that at new Zaxbys locations, opening teams support permanent staff for the first few weeks.
The Franklin Street location will introduce ordering kiosks for testing and is the franchise's first inline storefront, Smith said.
The 2,140-square-foot space hosts three kiosks, seating for 17 people and several homages to UNC. The letter Z, made up of blue Jordan One shoes fill one wall. Another wall displays basketballs stylized to represent Zaxbys array of sauces.
“They chose Chapel Hill because of the college students and the atmosphere and the walk-ins and kind of the environment that this opportunity provides on East Franklin Street,” The Chamber For a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s Assistant Vice President for Business Success and Communications Aury St. Germain said.
Despite the early ceremony, several groups of students gathered around the storefront to celebrate the opening and order chicken.
Among them were UNC juniors Kyran Taylor and Ashton Hutchinson, hosts of the Zaxbys Zone podcast.
“Franklin has a very, very rich history with a lot of restaurants that have been here to stay,” Taylor said. “So in order to kind of get Zaxbys acclimated to the rest of Franklin Street, we're having Carolina athletes, Carolina personalities, come into Zaxbys, sit down, enjoy some food and get to know them in the location, just for something here to stay.”
