At the new Bojangles in Piscataway − the first New Jersey location for the 821-restaurant chain − you can see through an open kitchen window how the chain’s legendary biscuits are made from scratch in 49 steps.
The biscuits are the heart and soul of Bojangles’ menu.
The menu features fried chicken sandwiches on biscuits, breakfast biscuit sandwiches and blueberry biscuits. The other menu items that have had a devoted following in Bojangles home territory in the Southeast for nearly a half century include fried chicken, iced tea, peach cobbler, blueberry milkshakes, dirty rice and macaroni and cheese.
And they’re all made the old-fashioned way − with love and care.
Food news: Nightlife veterans’ sleek new restaurant brings Mediterranean vibes to Middlesex County
“You will not find a microwave in our building,” said BJ Luther, Bojangles’ frontier brand and franchise success manager, at the restaurant prior to its April 23 opening at 1000 Stelton Road. “We don’t take shortcuts.”
After starting in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bojangles is now in 20 states. The new location has a two-lane drive-through, floor-to-ceiling windows, 40 indoor seats and 10 outdoor seats in a 3,300-square-foot space that used to be an Exxon gas station.
“This new design ties the outside decor in and makes it very inviting for our guests,” Luther said. “Rolling outside of our current footprint in the Southeast has been a dream of ours for over six years.”
It’s a dream for Bojangles franchisee Sanjay Patel, too, who is also a Burger King franchisee.
The exterior of Bojangles in Piscataway.
Food on wheels: The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck is rolling back to two Central Jersey malls. Here’s when
After immigrating to Piscataway from India as a child, he started his fast food career with a part-time job at Burger King while he was a student at Piscataway High School. He eventually graduated to a management position.
“I was raised in Piscataway and I never left, so this is my hometown and I wanted to open a restaurant here,” he said. “It’s a dream come true.”
Bojangles COO David Whitaker said there is no doubt that Bojangles will be a hit in New Jersey, especially with Piscataway as the first location in the Garden State.
“We have a fanatical fan base, and we know New Jersey will love our incredible flavor, biscuits and tea,” he said. “Once people get that taste, they realize it’s so much better because of the amount of love that goes into our food. At a lot of restaurants the food is already made when it comes in the back door, but ours starts with raw ingredients.”
Chicken tenders at Bojangles.
The Piscataway location is only the start of Bojangles’ journey in New Jersey, he continued.
The chain has already scheduled the opening of another location, also franchised by Patel, on Route 35 in Neptune at the end of the summer.
“New Jersey is an awesome place to be and there’s more to come here,” Whitaker said. “To get into the Northeast is a real crack in the gate. This is just the beginning.”
Go: 1000 Stelton Road, Piscataway; 732-424-6158, bojangles.com.
Jenna Intersimone.
Contact: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com
Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey since 2014, although she’s a lifetime Jersey girl who considers herself an expert in everything from the Jersey Shore to the Garden State’s buzzing downtowns. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. You can also follow her on Instagram at @seejennaeat and on Twitter at @JIntersimone.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Bojangles’ first NJ restaurant opens in Piscataway April 23
