About Zaxby's
Our Story
It all started in Statesboro, GA, in 1990. Zaxby’s founders and childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley opened the very first Zaxby’s — originally called ZAX — with the simple goal of serving only the highest quality food in a fun environment. The concept, one of the earliest premium quick-service restaurants, proved successful. In 1994, Zach and Tony decided to franchise the brand. They set up their headquarters in Athens, GA, and began serving more than just our hungry guests. They built a franchisee community of entrepreneurs to take the Zaxby’s brand to new heights.
THE SAUCE
Since the beginning, Zaxby’s has been known for two things: indescribably good chicken and Zax Sauce. For years, Zach made the sauce himself and distributed it to various locations to keep the sacred recipe safe. When there were too many locations to keep up with, he had it manufactured, but even then, the process ensured no one single person would know the recipe from start to finish. Seriously — not even our Executive Chef knows exactly how it’s made. All we know is it tastes amazing. The rest will remain a mystery. That's saucy.
