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Bojangles, a North Carolina-based fried chicken chain with 900 locations, is planning to open restaurants in Iowa as it continues a national expansion to midsize markets across the country. The first Iowa restaurant could open as early as 2028.<\/p>\n
Submitted photo<\/p>\n
A Southern fried chicken restaurant is planning to open new restaurants in Iowa as it eyes northern and western expansion.<\/p>\n
Bojangles, a North Carolina-based chain known for its chicken, biscuits and sweet tea, told The Gazette it is searching for opportunities to build locations in or around Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Des Moines and Council Bluffs.<\/p>\n
The brand is recruiting franchisees to develop new multilocation agreements in cities or territories. If the right franchisee is found soon, Bojangles could open its first Iowa restaurant as early as 2028.<\/p>\n
But a lack of franchisees won\u2019t necessarily preclude the brand from moving to Iowa, according to Brooks Speirs, vice president of franchise sales for Bojangles. Almost one-third of the chain\u2019s current restaurants are corporate-owned.<\/p>\n
The move comes on the heels of rapid growth. Since the regional chain launched its national expansion in 2022, it has grown to 900 locations \u2014 about 50 of which are not in its traditional southeastern territory.<\/p>\n
The brand has opened 25 restaurants across 12 states in the first half of 2026 alone, including its first restaurants in Michigan, New York and Oklahoma. The nearest Bojangles location to Iowa is in Normal, Illinois, with no locations in any of Iowa\u2019s other neighboring states.<\/p>\n
Bojangles also is interested in expanding to other Midwestern states like Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin. Speirs said that it\u2019s easier for the restaurant to stand out among competitors in midsize cities and markets than it is in major cities.<\/p>\n
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Brooks Speirs, vice president of franchise sales for Bojangles<\/p>\n
Chris Pyle\/Camera Man Studio<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we initially launched this, we looked at some midsize markets like Tampa and Oklahoma City, then bigger cities like Houston and Dallas. While we\u2019re happy with the results, we\u2019ve definitely been more successful in those midsize markets because it\u2019s easier to become more of a household name,\u201d Speirs said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot cheaper to advertise in Des Moines than it is in Houston.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Bojangles expands out of the South, he said more of its restaurants are exclusively offering boneless entree options like chicken tenders and sandwiches \u2014 a menu that is simpler to produce and appeals to younger demographics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trend among young people is tenders, tenders, tenders,\u201d Speirs said. \u201cIf we can move into a new market, let\u2019s have the consumer put us in the classification of a Raising Cane\u2019s, and not a Kentucky Fried Chicken.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent years, other chicken chains like Raising Cane\u2019s, Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken and Chicken Salad Chick have opened locations across central and Eastern Iowa. More established competitors, like Chick-fil-A, have also continued to grow with new locations in Cedar Rapids and Coralville.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Chick N Max, a Kansas-based fast-casual chain that calls itself \u201cHome of the Chicken Sandwich,\u201d announced plans to flock to several Iowa markets in a new wave of Midwestern expansion.<\/p>\n
The explosion of these types of restaurants may be due to the consumer perception of poultry, Speirs said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChicken has this halo effect to the consumer \u2014 that it\u2019s better for you than other proteins out there,\u201d he said. \u201cThat halo continues to drive demand. With Bojangles, there\u2019s a lot of white space out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, while Bojangle\u2019s offers 10 sauces for its tenders, you may not need it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur tenders already have bold flavor, so you don\u2019t need sauce,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bojangles, a North Carolina-based fried chicken chain with 900 locations, is planning to open restaurants in Iowa as it continues a national expansion to midsize markets across the country. The first Iowa restaurant could open as early as 2028. Submitted photo A Southern fried chicken restaurant is planning to open new restaurants in Iowa as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5197,69,4979,4977,4975,4978,4976,1660],"class_list":["post-3924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iowa","tag-chew_on_this","tag-food-drink","tag-iowa","tag-iowa-dining","tag-iowa-food","tag-iowa-grocery-stores","tag-iowa-restaurants","tag-lifestyles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117258525379509793","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}