Iconic Price’s Chicken Coop is closing
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Symphony Webber/Axios
Often hailed as Charlotte’s best fried chicken, the family-run restaurant announced its permanent closure in a Thursday morning Facebook post. Its last day will be June 19.
Why it matters: Price’s is the latest beloved Charlotte restaurant to go out of business during the pandemic. Owners of the cash-only restaurant cited the labor and coin shortage and rising food costs as the reasons for closing.
Owner Stephen Price tells Axios Charlotte that he made the decision to close within the last couple weeks, and will take time to rest before making decisions about what to do with the South End property. For now he just wants to say “thank you to our customers.”
Details: Price’s endured over the years despite encroaching development and soaring property values that’ve pushed out longtime businesses like Mr. K’s, Phat Burrito and Amos’ Southend.
- The unpretentious brick building sits on Camden Road, across from the light rail and surrounded by glistening new apartments and trendy retail.
- The Price family owns multiple parcels of land around the restaurant that have a combined assessed value of about $1.7 million, county records show.
/2024/01/06/1704502264896.webp)
Flashback: In April the Ledger reported on soil sampling that was happening near the longtime restaurant. But at the time, Price told Axios’ Katie Peralta-Soloff that he wasn’t planning to sell.
“Everybody’s lined up. Always have been for the last 10-15 years,” Price said of developers contacting him about the property. “We’re just watching the world change around us.”
Background: Price’s father, Talmadge, and uncle, Keith, opened the family restaurant in 1962 a low-price lunch option for warehouse workers who put in long hours at manufacturing plants that once filled South End, as the Observer has reported.
Over the years, Price’s has changed very little. They still don’t have indoor seating. They don’t offer delivery or online ordering, either. A Charlotte classic, Price’s held on, drawing in everyone from construction workers and bankers to big names like Cam Newton and even Jay Leno.
“As long as the customers are happy, and they get what they need at a reasonable price, that’s what we care about,” Price told the Observer a few years ago.