Zaxby’s SPE Franchisor LLC, doing business as Zaxby's, is an American chain of fast casual restaurants offering chicken wings, chicken fingers, sandwiches, and salads. The chain operates primarily in the Southern United States and has more than 900 locations. Most Zaxby's restaurants are owned and operating through franchising.[1]
The first Zaxby's was established in Statesboro, Georgia, in March 1990, near the Georgia Southern University campus, by childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley.[2] The company's first restaurant outside of Georgia was opened in September 1994 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In 2013, they opened locations in Utah, the first expansion outside of the southeastern United States.[3] In 2024, Zaxby's announced further expansion plans for 2025, including a store in Cambridge, Maryland, the first location in the state. More locations are slated to open along the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the coming years.[4]
As of 2023, Zaxby's has locations in 19 U.S. states.[5][6] In December 2019, the Oklahoma-based Zaxby's franchisee announced it would be shuttering five of its nine locations across the state.[7] Like other restaurants, since mid-March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Zaxby's dine-in lobbies to shut down indefinitely.[8][9] Some locations had reopened by mid-May 2020.[10]
In 2022, Zaxby's introduced a new CEO, Bernard Acoca; he was the first CEO that was not one of the co-founders.[11] Outgoing CEO Zach McLeroy stayed on as Chairman.[12]
Menu and themes
Zaxby's chicken fingers, drink cup, crinkle fries, and Texas toast
The company operates as a fast casual dining restaurant, offering prepared-at-order chicken fingers, chicken wings, sandwiches, salads, and appetizers.[13]Dipping sauces are offered with chicken finger orders, and range from mild, to the moderate "Zax sauce", to the intensely hot "Nuclear". Dining rooms at Zaxby's restaurants are decorated with assorted whimsical objects and signs, which often vary in theme by location and region. Some locations in college towns feature objects and decorations related to the local university. Similarly, citrus-industry themed decorations line the walls at a location in Orlando, Florida.
Zax sauce
Since the December 2013 announcement that Zaxby's would begin to offer the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine at their locations, the decor in the fountain drink dispensing area has been dominated by that distinctive dispenser and other Coca-Cola branding.[14][15]
In October 2008, the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles featured Zaxby's as a restaurant on the streets of Los Angeles. California, however, has none in reality.[17]
Sponsorships
John Wes Townley's Zaxby's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series truck in 2013
^"Spotlight on Zaxby's"(PDF). greysteel.com. Greysteel. October 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2018. Zaxby's primarily operates a franchise model with 145 corporate-operated locations.
