RELATED: Burger King buys Popeyes, which is expanding in SW Ohio
The Englewood Popeyes will be located at 1100 S. Main St. (Ohio 48). Plans filed with the city of Englewood call for a 2,791-square-foot restaurant that would seat 46 diners. and that would have a drive-through, to be built at that site.
If all goes well, Gilligan said, construction could begin April 1, with a projected opening date of Aug. 1.
Plans for a new restaurant in Springboro in the 800 block of West Central Avenue (Ohio 73), which we first reported last July, are scheduled to be submitted to city officials in early April, Gilligan said.
The new Englewood and Springboro restaurants will double the footprint for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in the Dayton-Springfield area. And more locations are planned, Gilligan has said.
RELATED: Popeyes Chicken to open 4 more Dayton-area restaurants
Once a Dayton-area mainstay known for its fried chicken and Cajun-style side dishes, Popeyes currently operates restaurants at 3796 Salem Ave. in Harrison Twp. and at 2134 S. Limestone St. in Springfield. A Sugarcreek Twp. location at 5800 Wilmington Pike near I-675 shut its doors in 2010. Gilligan purchased the Harrison Twp. and Springfield Popeyes locations in January 2016 and has owned Cincinnati-area Popeyes since 2006.
Popeyes had multiple locations in the Dayton area in the early 1980s, but those closed, and the region went without the Cajun-themed chicken chain for several years. When the current Salem Avenue Popeyes opened in 2001, devotees flocked to the restaurant for several days, causing waits of up to an hour.
This time around, the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen expansion comes at a time of swiftly increasing competition among fast-casual chicken restaurants across the Miami Valley.
RELATED: Chicken competition intensifies with new-restaurant openings
Raising Cane’s will enter the Dayton-area market in the coming months with new restaurants in the works in Beavercreek and Washington Twp. Chick-fil-A opened two new Dayton-area restaurants — in Kettering and Troy — on the same day a month ago. And Mike’s Nashville Hot opened a new restaurant in Centerville last month after opening its first Dayton-area location in Austin Landing in Miami Twp. late last year.
The region also is stocked with KFC, Lee’s Famous Recipe, and Church’s chicken restaurants, as well as multiple wing-themed restaurants.
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