When asked why so many Bojangles franchisees want to grow with the company, chief growth officer Jose Costa said, “it’s the biscuits.” With the North Carolina-based Southern chicken chain making 40% of its sales before 11 a.m., the Bojangles fluffy Southern biscuits are a staple for customers. Essentially, Costa, said “the food speaks for itself.”
Financially, AUVs keep growing and are close to $2 million, which has allowed Bojangles to take on some ambitious growth goals for the growing chain. The company is looking to add 50 new units by the end of the year with goals of 100 restaurant openings per year in the future, mainly in markets like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and coming up to the Northeast.
Costa said that Bojangles takes time to get food right and spent over two years developing their new chicken sandwich, making them “arguably one of the last chains” to enter the chicken wars, but Costa pointed out that they beat their competitors “five to one” and “three to one” in blind taste tests.
“[We have] a very thoughtful approach on how to bring new products and innovation in without bringing complexity to the kitchen,” Costa said. “Before a product makes it all the way down to the restaurant level, it has gone through a lot of testing, […] and then we need to do financial analysis to make sure that we're rolling out the right products. It’s a long process and takes a whole team to make a successful product launch.”
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