PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Bojangles'
Includes Bojangles, Bo's
fast food · Charlotte, NC
- PE Firm
- Durational Capital / The Jordan Company
- Acquirer
- Durational Capital Management / The Jordan Company
- Year Acquired
- 2019
PE is taking Bojangles' national by cutting the one thing that made it Bojangles'. The bone-in chicken.
What They Did
- Durational Capital Management and The Jordan Company took Bojangles' private for $594 million in January 2019
- The CEO told QSR Magazine in 2023 he'd 'like to get out of the chicken business' and into 'the experience business' — at a restaurant chain named after a guy who could dance because he was so happy about chicken
- PE owners are reportedly exploring a $1.5 billion+ sale as of mid-2025 — the classic pump-and-flip after diluting the brand for national expansion
Since the Acquisition
- New Bojangles' locations in expansion markets serve a stripped-down menu that longtime fans barely recognize as Bojangles'
- The bone-in chicken that made the chain a Southern institution is being quietly phased out of new builds in favor of faster-to-serve tenders and sandwiches
- Fans in the Southeast who grew up with Bojangles' are watching the brand they love get reshaped into something generic for national palatability
Sources
- Bojangles and the Threat Posed by Private Equity Pirates — Queen City Nerve(2024-07-22)
- Chicken chain Bojangles to go private for $594M — Restaurant Dive(2018-11-06)
- Report: Bojangles Explores Potential Sale — QSR Magazine(2025-06-16)
- Boberry shakes, no bone-in chicken: As Bojangles expands, so does its menu — WRAL(2023-06-23)
- Bojangles' CEO steering restaurant chain 'out of the chicken business' — WSOC-TV(2023-06-25)
- Bojangles chain could sell for $1.5 billion, report says — WBTV(2025-06-13)
- Bojangles CEO steering restaurant chain out of chicken business — WSOC-TV(2025-05-20)