Love’s grows franchise partnership with Bojangles next year

Dive Brief:

Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores will continue building out its franchisee agreement with fast-food chicken chain Bojangles with a new co-located store in Jacksonville, Florida, opening in February 2023, a company spokesperson said in an email.
This will be the second Love’s-franchised Bojangles to open in Jacksonville — the first debuted in 2020, Jensen said — and the 10th overall.
Love’s and Bojangles announced their franchise partnership in December 2019. It includes 40 new Bojangles’ restaurants inside Love’s Travel Stops across the U.S.

Dive Insight:

Love’s newest Bojangles restaurant will feature the QSR’s flagship Cajun fried chicken and biscuits, sides and iced tea. When combined with Love’s, the location will include 80 truck parking spaces, laundry and shower services and a Speedco maintenance center in addition to the c-store, the spokesperson said.

Each restaurant in the franchise partnership is managed by a “Bojangles’-trained Love’s team,” according to the initial agreement announcement. Besides Florida, Love’s currently operates Bojangles restaurants in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois and Arkansas.

A Bojangles location in Virginia is leased at a Love’s but not owned or operated by the c-store chain, Jensen said.

Bojangles starts serving breakfast at 5 a.m. and does so until 11 p.m. every day, according to the company’s website. While it didn’t specify statistics for its franchised locations, its company-owned restaurants, on average generate 36% of their sales during breakfast.

With breakfast being a major daypart for c-store customers — especially truck drivers who’ve been on the road all night — Bojangles’ offering aligns with Love’s segment.

Other restaurant brands that Love’s franchises and co-locates at its c-stores include Chester’s Chicken, Godfather’s Pizza and Petro’s Chili & Chips. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bojangles has more than 760 locations in 14 states.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Love’s Travel Stops owns more than 600 locations in 42 states, as well as 430 truck repair locations, and has more than 38,000 employees.