Fried chicken and coffee partnerships: All up in your business for June 19

Lula's 

After four decades of business, Spanky’s on Franklin has closed its doors, ushering in a new Southern-concept restaurant to replace it: Lula's.

Lula’s opened this month on the corner of East Franklin and North Columbia Streets, Spanky’s former location. The menu is centered around fried chicken and homemade biscuits, accompanied by classic Southern staples such as macaroni and cheese and locally-sourced collard greens. 

Greg Overbeck, marketing director and co-owner of the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group, described it as “simple food made the hard way.”

“What we’re doing is getting whole birds, butchering them ourselves, brining them, marinating and air drying them, then rolling them in seasoned flour and pan frying them in a cast iron skillet, just like grandma used to do,” Overbeck said.

Chef William D’Auvray, who previously worked at restaurants Fins and bu.ku in Raleigh, is the mastermind behind Lula’s fried chicken. According to Overbeck, Lula’s is going to bring something different to downtown Chapel Hill. He said that unlike the more upscale atmosphere that existed at Spanky’s, it is intended to be a casual place that serves simple and inexpensive food. You can get two pieces of chicken and a biscuit for $8.

With the football season only two months away, Lula’s is preparing to sell a lot of chicken for the tailgaters and sports fans of UNC. Overbeck said the restaurant has already been met with positive reception from the community. 

“We’ve been really happy with turnout so far, and we can see that business is building,” Overbeck said. 

Rise Biscuits and Donuts 

Two companies that specialize in catering to the early risers of the world have entered a new partnership this past week. Rise Biscuits and Donuts has joined Counter Culture Coffee to make the specialty coffee available in all 17 of the Rise locations. Ken Priest, vice president of operations for Rise Biscuits, expressed his excitement for the partnership. 

“We’re going to be able to give that Durham flavor across the United States," Priest said. “We were looking at the best coffee that we could get in the hands of Rise customers. And we think that Counter Culture fit the bill.”

Both Rise and Counter Culture both got their start in Durham and now have locations spanning across the United States. These locations will allow the two companies to avoid cross-country shipping costs, making their partnership an easy way for Rise to provide brews from a specialty roaster. 

“Most recently we just signed Thousand Oaks California, and Counter Culture has 12 training locations from coast to coast that almost mimics our growth, in almost the exact same area that we have,” Priest said.

Rise will be selling two of Counter Culture’s best-selling coffees, Big Trouble and Slow Motion. Big Trouble will feature nutty flavors of caramel and chocolate while Slow Motion will be a decaf brew with cocoa and molasses essences.