Tampa’s King of the Coop Nashville hot chicken joint is expanding again and spicing up the suburbs by opening its third location in Westchase.
Founder Joe Dodd told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that his Seminole Heights-based restaurant is opening in the Sprouts plaza near the intersection of Sheldon Road and Linebaugh Avenue, and could be operational before the end of the summer depending on permitting and construction.
“We’ve learned a lot from our Seminole Heights location and have already picked up lessons from opening in Wesley Chapel,” Dodd explained. “So the Westchase location will be different from the others, but we think it’ll be the best one yet.”
The new location also happens to be directly across the street from another Tampa-based chicken restaurant, PDQ, and if you think the two local titans of fried chicken have a bone to pick with each other, you’re probably right.
When PDQ recently took to Instagram to post a pic of its spicy chicken sandwich and say “#PDQisbetter,” King of the Coop clucked back by posting a pic of its own sandwich with a caption that said, “*In our Juvenile voice* Oh, so you thought PDQ was better, haaa? Oh y’all thought you had the superior spicy chicken sandwich, haaaa? Mic drop. 🎤 #PDQWho #WeSeeYouOverThere #SeeYouSoon.”
PDQ shot back in the comments and said, “And you are???,” to which King of the Coop replied, “Tampa’s favorite fried chicken spot—but we think you already knew that.”
So it looks like the Westchase fried chicken war is on, but Dodd—who recently implemented a gluten-friendly batter at all the King of the Coop locations—insists that the fowl play is all in good fun. Plus, it’s Westchase, so folks commuting on the Veterans Expressway are probably just going to grab PDQ on the way to work and pick up King of the Coop for dinner on the way home anyway.
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