Sterling Coleman, the founder of SJAC Food Groups Holdings— the “largest” Zaxby’s licensee group—on July 11 will break ground on a new outpost of the quick-service chicken restaurant.
Thursday’s groundbreaking will be held at the site where the new Zaxby’s will be erected, at 946 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive NW.
Atlanta officials including Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Councilmembers Michael Bond, Antonio Brown, Marci Overstreet, Matt Westmoreland, and Cleta Winslow will be on hand at the groundbreaking alongside key Zaxby’s executives.
“Small businesses have played a significant role in the history of Atlanta—from providing economic opportunities to communities cut out of the job market by segregation to serving as headquarters for civil rights groups advocating for needed change,” Bottoms said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
“This business on the Southwest-side is another example that opportunity and upward mobility should have no boundaries.”
Sterling has opened eight other Zaxby’s restaurants in Atlanta and owns the first Zaxby’s to reach the $4 million annual sales mark, according to a press release Tuesday.
The new Ashview Heights Zaxby’s will provide nearly 100 jobs and is scheduled to open for business in October.
“We’re pleased to support this community and provide job opportunities for local residents,” Coleman said.
“I grew up in a neighborhood just like this one in St. Louis (LaClede Town was a few blocks away from Dr. Martin Luther King Drive) and am a proud graduate of the HBCU Tennessee State University, so I feel a personal connection to the people here and the rich heritage and tradition of this area.”
Coleman has been a Zaxby’s franchisee for over 16 years and has opened 17 restaurants in Georgia and Oklahoma.
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