New Details on When and Where Southern Classic Chicken Is Coming to Lafayette, Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) - A popular fried chicken chain is moving to south Louisiana, and now we know where and when construction will start.

Southern Classic Chicken, which has several franchises across the state, is set to come to Lafayette before too long, according to a new report from The Acadiana Advocate. The restaurant chain is known for its fried chicken and homestyle sides.

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It was revealed previously that the location for the Lafayette franchise would be on Johnston Street, across Johnston from Courtesy Buick and next to Legends on the opposite side of Lana Drive. The property used to belong to Sharon Moss before being sold in 2017 to RaceTrac - though the property was never developed for the gas station chain.

At the time, it was reported that the property needed to be rezoned so that it could be purchased.

Jessie Fontenot with JA Fontenot Enterprises is seeking to rezone property at 4603 Johnston St. from commercial heavy to commercial mixed to allow for the restaurant and other businesses to be built at the 2.85-acre location at the corner of Johnston Street and Lana Drive, records show.

The item will go before Lafayette Consolidated Government’s city zoning commission meeting at 5 p.m. Dec. 18.

Fontenot, who said the purchase of the property is contingent on getting the property rezoned, is planning the restaurant at the site along with what would likely be the third Scooter’s Coffee in the Lafayette area and a 7,500-square-foot building for retail.

The latest report from The Advocate suggests that construction on the new franchise could begin as soon as next month.

His company bought the land from RaceTrac Petroleum for just under $1.68 million, land records show. RaceTrac bought the property in 2017 for $1.85 million but never developed on it.

Construction is expected to take 20 weeks. The remaining land will be prepared future construction, Fontenot said.

With that timeline, we could be seeing Southern Classic open in early 2025.

Southern Classic has branches throughout Louisiana, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, and in particular along I-49 - Shreveport, Natchitoches, and Alexandria - where it is exceedingly popular among its regular customers.