Bruxie, a “culinary casual” restaurant chain based in Orange, Calif., was founded in 2010 by Dean Simon and Kelly Mullarney as a place to get the best fried chicken and waffle sandwiches.
Within one year, the restaurant was named the number two restaurant in the country by Yelp users.
“We have what I would consider a cult-like following in California, a very passionate following,” said CEO Scott Grinstead.
Over the past 13 years, Bruxie has expanded beyond its California roots to include one location in Georgia and more on the way. While it may seem like an odd move for a fried chicken brand from California to move to the South where fried chicken is everywhere, Grinstead got the idea for the new location in Athens, Ga., while visiting his daughter at the University of Georgia.
“I was there for a football game last year and saw a space come available, and [it] just ended up being an opportunity to marry a few of the loves of my life: My business and my daughter, not in that order,” Grinstead said.
Despite the competition for fried chicken and restaurant options on or near the campus, Bruxie has performed well in its Georgia location — so much so that it's opening in Chamblee, Ga., in this year’s first quarter.
“We believe that there's a lot of areas of the country that probably gravitate towards this type of food more readily,” Grinstead said.
Bruxie, at its core, is a fried chicken and waffle brand serving made-from-scratch food across its eight locations.
The chicken is marinated for 24 hours before being fried. The custard for the shakes comes directly from Wisconsin, and the waffles are traditional Belgian waffles.
Oddly enough, the waffles have a health halo. Grinstead describes them as low sugar with fewer calories than most breads.
This makes sense considering that the brand’s core demographic is women aged 15-35. Bruxie is, however, leaning further into its fried chicken and Wisconsin custard shakes as it continues to expand.
The initial idea for Bruxie was to turn waffles into a street food, all crafted by chef and co-founder Mullarney.
What started as waffles as bread for several sandwiches turned into mainly a chicken and waffle shop.
“The fried chicken with the waffle combination is just too compelling to people,” Grinstead said. “So more and more [we] became centered around that because if we had 100 sandwiches on the menu, 60% of the sales would be the fried chicken.”
That allowed the brand to trim down the menu as it began to expand, leading to easier operations but also the comfort of customers who may have a hard time choosing from among several sandwich options.
The brand just opened a new franchised store in Santa Barbara, Calif., along with another California location in Davis.
This marks the continuation of a franchise journey for Bruxie that began before the pandemic and was put on an indefinite hold. While the store is planning on growth mostly through corporate stores in 2024, its franchise network is only growing.