Winter Parks gets a new Zaxby's

If you’re a lover of all things chicken, then here is some good news for you: Winter Park now has its own Zaxby’s.

Chicken fingers, wings with a variety of sauces, chicken sandwiches, and Zaxby’s “Zalads,” it all can be found on the eastern side of the city.

The Georgia-based franchise has found a nice home on University Boulevard, just a block east of Full Sail University.

Although the restaurant opened at 10:30 a.m. Monday, it held a soft opening July 21 as a way of introducing the restaurant to the surrounding area.

“It’s ZIP night, which is Zaxby’s Important People, which is people in the community — first-responders and people like that — we’ve invited them all to come out and eat,” said Tiffany Bolton, the restaurant’s general manager. “It’s actually like a training event for our employees, and they (the community) get a sneak peek at what we offer.”

The soft opening gave employees, who started training the previous Tuesday, a chance to get a feel of how the restaurant will operate during a regular day.

The restaurant currently employs 45 to 50 staff members, and a managerial team of five, said Bolton, who has been working for Zaxby’s for the last five years.

The location sits between Sonny’s and Baskin-Robbins, and use to be the site of Pollo Tropical before it closed.

The process of finding a space to build the restaurant came fairly easily, and it makes sense why Zaxby’s would choose Winter Park. University itself is a busy stretch of asphalt, and with Full Sail a block away and the University of Central Florida only six miles down the road, the restaurant expects to attract plenty of hungry college kids.

“We are very excited about this location,” said John White, area development manager. “This is our fifth corporate location in the Orlando area, but this one is a good spot, so we expect it to do very well here. It’ll be very busy.”

After tearing down the old Pollo Tropical building, construction started a few months ago. Although that process took longer than expected and delayed the store’s opening by two months, everything now is in good shape and the business is ready to serve the community, White said.

As a part of the grand opening Monday, the restaurant gave out what they call the Zaxby’s Deck of Dealz, which consists of a deck of 52 cards that feature free food, to the first 100 visitors. White said at some stores, people will camp at the location overnight just to be able to grab a pack.

With the expectation of being a busy spot for hungry locals, White also hopes the restaurant can provide more than just chicken to the people around the area.

“We are excited to join the community and one of the things Zaxby’s loves to do is get involved in the community,” White said. “So, we like to work with schools, nonprofit groups (and) churches, and do what we can in order to help out our neighbors the best we can.”