Popular fried chicken tender restaurant closes Triangle spot after 1 year
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Zaxbys closed its Chapel Hill restaurant after roughly one year.
- Company removed Chapel Hill location from online ordering.
- Zaxbys continues operating multiple Triangle locations, including in Raleigh and Durham.
One of the Triangle’s major players in the battle for chicken finger dominance has closed a local restaurant.
The Zaxbys on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill is no more, gone almost exactly one year after it opened.
The News & Observer’s call to the restaurant at 127 E. Franklin St. did not go through, and the location no longer appears on Zaxbys’ website for online ordering.
“Zaxbys has made the difficult decision to close its Chapel Hill, NC restaurant, effective March 22,” a Zaxbys spokesperson said in an email to The N&O. “We’re grateful to our team members, guests, and the community for their support, and hope to continue serving the Chapel Hill area at nearby locations.”
Known for its fried chicken tenders, which is calls “Fingerz,” Zaxbys has a larger Triangle footprint compared to other chicken tender chains such Guthrie’s or Raising Cane’s — which has a location on the same block of Franklin Street as the now-closed Zaxbys.
Though the Chapel Hill location closed, Zaxbys still operates restaurants in Raleigh, Garner, Knightdale, Cary, Apex, Clayton, Wake Forest, Holly Springs, Durham, Smithfield and Fuquay-Varina.
The Atlanta-based chain’s Franklin Street location, which was company-owned, took a 2,140-square-foot space near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. It catered toward students, featuring self-service kiosks offering a quicker ordering process. The location was also decorated with Tar Heel-themed artwork and stayed open past midnight Friday and Saturday nights.
Zaxbys menu
In addition to chicken tenders, Zaxbys serves boneless and traditional wings, chicken sandwiches and salads (”Zalads”), plus milkshakes and sides such as crinkle fries and fried pickles. It also offers about a dozen sauces for dipping or flavoring wings.
Those options make Zaxbys’ menu much more expansive than those of competitors Guthrie’s and Raising Cane’s, which keep things simple with chicken tenders, fries, toast, slaw and a signature sauce.
For a limited time, Zaxbys is also running a special named for brothers and Duke University basketball players Cameron and Cayden Boozer. For about $13, the meal comes with five wings in lemon pepper with ranch, three chicken Fingerz in Nashville Hot with ranch, Texas toast, garlic parmesan crinkle fries and a lemonade.
This story was originally published March 27, 2026 at 3:07 PM.
