The arrival of Cajun fried chicken chain Bojangles in Texas draws near, with the first location just south of DFW Airport at 201 E. Euless Blvd. in Euless, opening on June 27 — giving Texans a chance to see what all the fuss is about.
On June 21, the chain hosted a small media preview at the new restaurant, offering a chance to sample the chicken and biscuits and chat with company reps.
"Why Texas for us? Texas is a large enough state to be a country," said Mike Caroti, market director for Bojangles. "Texas is the gateway to the West for us."
Bojangles was founded in North Carolina in 1977, and is now a publicly traded company with 800 restaurants primarily in the southeast. Euless will be No. 801, followed in August by locations in Frisco at 1631 US-380; and Lancaster at 760 N Interstate 35-E Rd.
Little Elm, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston are next in line for Texas, with plans for New York and Las Vegas in the future.
Part of their expansion to new markets entailed a simplification of the menu, says Bojangles' VP of menu & culinary innovation Marshall Scarborough, with a focus on tenders and chicken sandwiches only. Goodbye to bone-in options such as drumsticks and thighs.
"This menu was designed specifically to be operationally friendly and to streamline the customer experience," Scarborough says. "That's the biggest reason why you won't see bone-in chicken on the menu."
This puts them in the category of a Raising Cane's, the chicken-tender chain that has been a huge hit in Texas with nearly 200 locations, including 20 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area alone. You begin to see why Bojangles is here.
Watch the biscuits being made at Bojangles.Photo by Velton Hayworth
You can get 4 tenders with the usual array of sauces for $6 to $7, or in a sandwich with a pickle on a shiny toasted bun for about $5. The company claims its honey mustard sauce has a cult following, with people from around the country purportedly calling restaurants and begging them to mail out honey mustard packets.
Bojangles' other staple is their buttermilk biscuits, which are of medium height, crunchy outside, flaky within. They make a theatrical case for homemade authenticity by taking a page from Krispy Kreme's famed doughnut-making display, with a glass screen that lets customers see cooks rolling dough on a floured board and cutting out the biscuit circles en route to the oven.
Sides include mac & cheese, dirty rice, Cajun pintos, and seasoned fries. Desserts include a biscuit spiked with blueberries and iced, and a fried sweet potato pie. A new Bo-Berry milkshake is unique to the expansion market menus.
For those who wish Chick-Fil-A's chicken biscuit breakfast lasted beyond 10:30 am, Bo’s Chicken Biscuit Combo (as with all of the breakfast menu) is available until 2 pm. Breakfast sandwiches feature eggs, sausage, bacon, and ham on a biscuit, served in combos with "Bo-Tatos" — like a hash browns Tater Tot.
"We are a fun brand with bold flavor and high-quality delicious food," Scarborough says. "Our motto is 'Bo Time' — about people getting together that are enjoying Bojangles' food and the next thing you know, everybody is having a good time. It's part of our culture."
