Popeyes continues Miami Valley resurgence, adds another store
A Popeyes Louisiana Chicken restaurant is heading to Wilmington Pike near Miami Valley Hospital South in Sugarcreek Twp.
Julea Schuh, a spokeswoman for Popeyes’ franchisee Gilligan Company, confirmed the restaurant will be located at 6242 Wilmington Pike. The site was previously home to an Applebee’s.
The 2,400-square-foot space seating over 30 people is under construction and expected to open at the end of May, Schuh said.
The restaurant is part of an expansion effort to build as many as five new stores per year in the Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus markets. The Gilligan Company opened a restaurant at 5798 N. Springboro Pike in Miami Twp. in March 2022 and another at 6793 Miller Lane in the Vandalia/Butler Twp. area in June 2022.
Both locations feature a new prototype with updated lobby décor, a newly
designed kitchen and double drive-thru. Schuh said the Sugarcreek Twp. location will be similar.
The Gilligan Company has plans to open Popeyes restaurants in Huber Heights and Xenia.
“We are excited to continue our growth in the Dayton area,” Schuh said. “We will be looking to employ 50-60 Dayton residents for each site.”
Founded in 1972, Popeyes Louisiana Chicken has more than 2,700 locations in the United States and worldwide. Popeyes was once a Dayton-area mainstay. It had multiple stores in the region in the early 1980s but those closed and the region went without a Popeyes for several years.
Pat Gilligan, the franchise owner-operator for Popeyes’ southwest Ohio locations,
has owned Cincinnati-area Popeyes since 2006. He led the chain’s Miami Valley resurgence, acquiring the Harrison Twp. and Springfield Popeyes in 2016. Over the past five years, he has opened restaurants in Englewood, Kettering and Springboro.