Opened in April, the new Southern Classic Chicken prototype restaurant is seeing strong sales.
After two years of waiting, the first in a long line of prototype restaurants has opened for Southern Classic Chicken in Louisiana. The new restaurant opened in April and is positioned to be one of the top performers for the brand.
“When I came in, I brought in a couple of consultants,” said Thomas O’Keefe, the company’s managing director. “They did a lot of brand research and we came up with a refresh of a lot of the brand elements.”
Founded in 1989, Southern Classic Chicken serves its chicken fried with a variety of side dishes. In 2019, it began franchising in order to expand its reach in the competitive chicken market and has 17 locations open.
Previously a franchise lawyer, O’Keefe joined the Southern Classic team in 2019. The brand’s success with company units and a lower initial investment attracted him to Southern Classic. Average unit volume in 2019 was about $3 million, O’Keefe said. Plus, he said he liked that it was already a strong concept and that the new owners, three cousins, grew up with the brand.
Southern Classic offers fried chicken and all the fixings for customers to take home.
With the brand checking all his boxes, from the business to the people, O’Keefe got to work prepping a franchise program.
In 2021, O’Keefe announced Southern Classic’s path for growth with the new store prototypes. With a smaller footprint and a focus on takeout, the new designs were supposed to become the standard for Southern Classic. The full buildout spans about 1,500 square feet.
“This is what will be sold and developed, this model,” said O’Keefe.
But the pandemic was still going strong in 2021, which led to delays as construction supplies were limited and the team focused its efforts on maintaining the existing locations. It took two years to open the first new-look unit, and it’s performing well.
“It’s tracking to certainly be in the top third of the units,” said O’Keefe. “It may even be close to the No. 1 or No. 2 unit in the system.”
The Bossier City, Louisiana, location is the first of many to come, O’Keefe said. Not only will all new locations have this updated design, older Southern Classic locations will be renovated to the new standard. Southern Classic is sticking to its roots by expanding in Louisiana and Texas, with growth in Mississippi is just beginning.
Unafraid of the competition, O’Keefe plans to bring Southern Classic to further heights in the years to come by turning the cult following into a much larger fan base. The goal for 2024 is to open two to three more locations.
“The advantage that we have here is that it has a 30-year history,” said O’Keefe. “It’s a strong consumer product, loyal base, and I think the other piece is that now franchisees can see and experience the new model.”
The initial investment for a Southern Classic Chicken is between $770,000 to $1.2 million.