International chain goes against Fresno fried chicken trend, opens new restaurant
The Fresno market might have lost a number of fried chicken restaurants in the past year.
But don’t tell the franchise owners of this international chain that there’s a fried chicken crisis in Fresno.
Founded in Korea and specializing in Korean fried chicken, bb.q Chicken is attracting so many customers to its Clovis location that the local franchise owners are opening a second restaurant in Fresno.
The newest bb.q chicken restaurant will be located near Kings Canyon Road and Clovis Avenue in southeast Fresno — at the former Maria’s Tacos brick-and-mortar location.
The restaurant, at 660 S. Clovis Ave. in Fresno, is set to open around the start of May.
The area’s first bb.q chicken, located just east of Willow Avenue at 701 W. Shaw Ave # 101 in Clovis, has been open since August 2023.
“This is a bit of a different concept than your usual fried chicken place,” said Trace Mathias, a commercial real estate broker who helped the local franchise owners secure the new location. “Their fried chicken tastes different and it’s been very popular.
“The Willow (and Shaw) store has been doing outrageous things.”
What’s special about bb.q Chicken?
Though bb.q Chicken tastes nothing like the classic 11 herbs and spices at KFC, it does have fried chicken made with methods used in Korea.
Its flavors range from traditional “golden original” to more adventurous options like “cheesling.” It also offers varying levels of spice, as well as different chicken options — whole chicken, boneless and traditional wings.
There are also K-food options on the menu, such as kimchi fried rice, and different types of sides, such as fried dumplings and pickled radish.
bb.q Chicken operates over 3,500 locations worldwide across 57 countries, including more than 200 locations in the United States.
Bucking the trend
In some ways, the bb.q Chicken’s second location opening bucks the trend of fried chicken restaurants closing locally.
Last month, two KFC restaurants — one in Clovis and another in northwest Fresno — both abruptly closed for good.
The two closures were preceded by the KFC spot near downtown Fresno closing in February.
And in 2025, three other KFCs around Fresno also closed.
In addition, a KFC once in Kerman recently shut down. It had received a number of negative reviews in recent months, though it was unclear what impact that had in its closure.
Messages left with JEM Management, which owned those franchises as well as other KFC restaurants in the Fresno area, were not returned.
The longtime Fresno-based franchise operator has been closing fast food joints around the central San Joaquin Valley amid industry and consumer changes.
The KFC brand, however, isn’t the only fried chicken restaurants to close locally in recent years.
A Popeye’s Chicken at First and McKinley avenues closed last year.
Locally owned Chicken Man restaurant closed in 2018 after 51 years.
