Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken Opens on Spartanburg’s East Main Street, Its Second South Carolina Restaurant

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, a quick-service fried chicken chain based in Ohio, has opened a restaurant at 2161 E. Main St. in Spartanburg, near the Walmart on the city’s east side, according to The Post and Courier. The newspaper reported Oct. 26 that the location is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Spartanburg store is the brand’s second in South Carolina, joining an existing restaurant in Rock Hill, The Post and Courier reported. Most of the chain’s units are concentrated in Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri, with additional restaurants in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois and a smaller presence in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia, according to the newspaper. The report did not identify the franchisee behind the Spartanburg restaurant, the size of the building or how many people it employs.

The opening follows a push by the chain to grow in the Palmetto State. In a March 27 release distributed through PR Newswire, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken said it plans six new South Carolina locations with Harris Mullis, the owner-operator of its Rock Hill restaurant, who reopened that late-1970s building in 2010. The company did not name the markets or set opening dates for those units. Restaurant design trade publication rd+d reported in April that Mullis was named the chain’s Operator of the Year in 2022 and that the brand has added development staff, including a head of growth and development hired in February, as part of a renewed expansion focus tied to its 60th anniversary.

Founded in 1966 in Lima, Ohio, the chain operates more than 130 restaurants across 12 U.S. states and Canada, most of them individually owned and operated franchises, according to the company release. The Post and Courier noted that founder Lee Cummings first served his recipe at Harold’s Take Home, the Lima eatery he opened that year with business partner Harold Omer.

For brokers and landlords, the East Main Street opening is another example of an out-of-state franchise brand entering the Upstate along an established retail corridor anchored by a big-box tenant. With the chain publicly committed to at least six more South Carolina units and its in-state footprint limited to Rock Hill and Spartanburg, restaurant-space owners in the region may see the brand in the market for additional sites, though the company has not announced any further Upstate locations.

Sources: The Post and Courier, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken via PR Newswire, rd+d