The chicken sandwich brand born in the Triangle has closed two of its three locations

The Triangle’s champion in the chicken sandwich wars has closed two of its locations.

BB’s Crispy Chicken announced last week that it had closed its Durham and Raleigh locations, the first two restaurants opened by the brand. The third location in Cary’s Parkside shopping center will remain open.

BB’s opened as a partnership between James Beard-winning Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen and MDO Holdings. Christensen developed the menu of particularly crispy chicken sandwiches, tenders, fries and sauces and helped launch the concept in 2021 with the original Raleigh location. After two years, Christensen ended her involvement with BB’s in 2023.

In its closing announcement, BB’s pointed to the brand’s struggles opening during the pandemic and the dramatic shifts in the restaurant industry.

“As we continue to refine our model to serve high-quality food in a fast-casual setting within today’s food and beverage industry, we have made the difficult decision to close our Raleigh and Durham location to focus on perfecting our craft at the Parkside BB’s,” the post reads.

BB’s launched as a local option to one of the hottest dining trends of the moment--the fried chicken sandwich, a form popularized by Chick-Fil-A and turned into a phenomenon by Popeye’s. The chicken at BB’s aims for potato-chip-level crunch and comes in sauces like Nashville Hot and Korean BBQ.

In closing two of its three location’s, BB’s seems to believe the brand can survive and grow stronger at its remaining restaurant.

“While we will miss the communities at these locations, we are excited toe continue serving the Triangle’s crispiest chicken, fantastic sides and house made sauces at our Cary-Parkside restaurant, which shares a beautiful and spacious outdoor patio with Rosecomb Beer Garden,” BB’s said on Instagram. “By focusing on one location, we are excited to strengthen our brand, restaurant model and catering services to better serve our community our all-natural, hormone and antibiotic-free Crispy Chicken.”

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