Zaxbys has locked in its largest non-traditional deal yet, five Florida Turnpike service-plaza restaurants with Areas USA, led by a new Orlando stop for highway travelers.
Atlanta-based chicken chain Zaxbys has signed a five-unit agreement with travel-hospitality operator Areas USA to put restaurants inside Florida Turnpike service plazas, and the first one is already open at Orlando’s Turkey Lake Service Plaza on a high-traffic corridor.
Nation's Restaurant News reported the pact as the chain’s biggest non-traditional development deal to date, with Areas set to back flexible formats and strategic real estate as Zaxbys pushes beyond the standard freestanding box.
The move fits a broader push into airports, colleges and universities, military installations, and other non-traditional sites after a strong 2025 that beat growth expectations and carried the brand past the 1,000-unit mark across 24 states.
Zaxbys Chief Development Officer Russ Holland, named to the post in June, framed the Areas partnership as a way to meet guests where they already are.
Holland said:
"Working with Areas USA enables us to introduce the Zaxbys experience to millions of travelers each year while continuing to build on our non-traditional development strategy. We're excited to expand into one of Florida's most heavily traveled corridors alongside a partner that shares our commitment to delivering exceptional guest experiences,"
Areas Chief Development Officer Richard Schneider said in a statement that Zaxbys is a strong fit for the company’s long-running work with Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise to upgrade service plazas and build a scalable growth model along the toll road system.
Zaxbys recently opened in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and New York City while it widened the menu of buildings franchisees can use.
Last year the company rolled out a Modern Farmhouse design under its “Grow to Win” plan. Franchisees now have six building types, seven if conversions count, including non-traditional and drive-thru-only prototypes. For years the chain ran mainly on one 3,000-square-foot box.
That shift matters on a turnpike plaza, where space, traffic patterns, and speed of service do not match a suburban pad site. Areas, a major airport and travel-hospitality operator, is positioned to help Zaxbys plant smaller or more flexible formats where travelers already stop for gas and food.
Absolute dates for the signing and the Turkey Lake opening were not disclosed, and the company has not publicly mapped the other four Turnpike sites or said whether the units will be franchise- or company-owned. Financial terms also were not released.
Highway travel plazas, airports, campuses, and military bases give national chains captive foot traffic without waiting on another crowded retail corner. Zaxbys is treating those sites as a core development track rather than a side experiment, and the five-unit Florida package is the clearest proof so far.
For a brand that just cleared 1,000 restaurants and is still entering big metro markets, the Areas deal is a practical bet: put the chicken where the cars already are, on one of Florida’s busiest corridors, with a partner that already runs the plazas.
Companies that follow customers instead of forcing them to detour tend to keep growing, and Zaxbys is doing exactly that on the Turnpike.