Zaxbys is an American chain of fast casual restaurants offering signature Chicken Fingerz, sandwiches, bone-in and boneless wings and salads - known as Zalads. The chain operates primarily in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

and has more than 900 locations. Most Zaxbys restaurants are owned and operating through

franchising Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busines ...

History and locations

The first Zaxbys was established in

Statesboro, Georgia Statesboro is the most populous city in and the county seat of Bulloch County, Georgia, United States. Located in the southeastern part of the state, its population was 33,438 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city ...

, in March 1990, near the

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

campus, by childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley. The company's first restaurant outside of Georgia was opened in September 1994 in

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a city in Warren County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Kentucky, third-most populous city in the stat ...

. In 2013, they opened locations in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, the first expansion outside of the southeastern United States. In 2024, Zaxbys 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 The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies mostly on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. Nine counties are normally included in the region. The Eastern Shore is part of the larger Delmarva Peninsula that Ma ...

in the coming years. In 2022, Zaxbys introduced a new CEO, Bernard Acoca; he was the first CEO that was not one of the co-founders. Outgoing CEO Zach McLeroy stayed on as Chairman.

Menu and themes

The company operates as a fast casual dining restaurant, offering prepared-at-order chicken fingers, chicken wings, sandwiches, salads, and appetizers.

Dipping sauce A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato ch ...

s are offered with chicken finger orders, and range from mild, to the moderate "Zax Sauce", to the intensely hot "Nuclear". Dining rooms at Zaxbys restaurants are decorated with assorted whimsical objects and signs, which often vary in theme by location and region. Some locations in

college town A college town or university town is a town or city whose character is dominated by a college or university and their associated culture, often characterised by the student population making up 20 percent of the population of the community, bu ...

s feature objects and decorations related to the local university. Similarly, citrus-industry themed decorations line the walls at a location in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

Since the December 2013 announcement that Zaxbys 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.

Advertising

In late 2007, the chain began running a series of commercials featuring celebrities eating Zaxbys menu items. The celebrities of 2007–2008 included '' Laverne and Shirley'' stars

Penny Marshall Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, film director, and producer. She is best known for ...

and

Cindy Williams Cynthia Jane Williams (August 22, 1947 – January 25, 2023) was an American actress. She is best known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcoms ''Happy Days'' (1975–1979), and ''Laverne & Shirley'' (1976–1982). She a ...

Bobby Allison Robert Arthur Allison (December 3, 1937 – November 9, 2024) was an American professional stock car racing driver and owner. Allison was the founder of the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers based in Hueytown, Alabama, where there were abundant ...

, Diana DeGarmo,

Herschel Walker Herschel Junior Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election ...

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

, Elijah Kelley,

Lorenzo Lamas Lorenzo Fernando Lamas (born January 20, 1958) is an American actor and producer. He is widely known for his role of Lance Cumson, the irresponsible grandson of Angela Channing—played by Jane Wyman—in the soap opera ''Falcon Crest'' (1981� ...

, Cody Linley, Jerry Rice, John Schneider, Alyson Stoner, Kerri Strug, Richard Thomas,

Richard Karn Richard Karn (born Richard Karn Wilson; February 17, 1956) is an American actor, author and former game show host. He starred as Home Improvement (TV series)#Characters, Al Borland in the ABC series ''Home Improvement (TV series), Home Improveme ...

, Reginald VelJohnson, David Garrard, and

Spud Webb Anthony Jerome "Spud" Webb (born July 13, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. A point guard, Webb played college basketball at Midland College and at North Carolina State University. He then played for four teams in the N ...

. In 2009, celebrities included '' Orange County Choppers'' Paul Teutul Sr. and Michael Teutul, Béla Károlyi,

Fred Willard Frederick Charles Willard Jr. (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984), ''Waiting for Guffman'' (1996), ''Be ...

Paul Sorvino Paul Anthony Sorvino (, ; April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022) was an American actor. He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law. Sorvino was particularly known for his roles as Lucchese cri ...

, and

Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka ( ; born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former professional American football, football player, coach, and television commentator. During his playing career, he was UPI NFL-NFC Rookie of the Year, UPI NFL R ...

. 2010 and 2011 celebrities included

Doris Roberts Doris May Roberts ( Green; November 4, 1925 – April 17, 2016) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades of television and film. She received five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild award during her acting career, which bega ...

, ''

E! News ''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the infotainment, entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and prima ...

'' host

Giuliana Rancic Giuliana Rancic (; ; born August 17, 1974) is an Italian-born American Entertainment journalism, entertainment reporter and television personality. She is a co-anchor of ''E! News'' and resides in Chicago and Los Angeles. Early life Rancic was bo ...

, Jaime Pressly, Ryan Stiles, and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

. In 2012, the chain featured celebrities Rachel Dratch, Chris Kattan, Jill Hennessy, Lee Ann Womack, and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

linebacker Clay Matthews in its commercials. Zaxby's 2013 commercials featured David Alan Grier and Waylon Payne, with

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

Wayne Brady Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular cast member on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' He was the host of the daytim ...

and actress

Leigh-Allyn Baker Leigh-Allyn Baker (born March 13, 1972) is an American actress. She had recurring roles on ''Charmed'' and as Ellen on ''Will & Grace'', and a starring role as mother Amy Duncan (Good Luck Charlie), Amy Duncan on the Disney Channel sitcom ''Good ...

. In October 2008, the video game '' Midnight Club: Los Angeles'' featured Zaxbys as a restaurant on the streets of Los Angeles. California, however, has none in reality.

Sponsorships

John Wes Townley Red Horse Racing Toyota Rockingham 2013

Zaxbys is "The Official Chicken of Sports Fanz" and has collective intellectual property rights at nearly 30 Division I colleges through 2015 through a deal with their

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

teams. The sponsorship, which was made through

IMG College Learfield (often stylized as LEARFIELD) is a collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and many of th ...

, includes 25 states, seven conferences, and the entire area of Zaxby's locations. Included are ten colleges from the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

, six colleges from the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

, three colleges from

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

, two each from the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

and

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

, and one college from the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. Additionally, Zaxbys has a separate agreement with

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

to provide brand presence at all

and men's and women's basketball games. Zaxbys was also the sponsor of the Heart of Dallas Bowl, played at the Cotton Bowl Stadium. Zaxbys was a sponsor for Joey Clanton in the No. 09 JTG Daugherty Racing truck in the NCWTS. Zaxby's also sponsored the late John Wes Townley (son of co-founder Tony) in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series i ...

and Xfinity Series, and Townley's Athenian Motorsports. John Wes retired from competition after 2016, thus ending the sponsorship. In honor of the children the restaurant chain serves every year, Zaxbys is a supporter of Make-A-Wish.

References

External links