The newest outpost of the Ponko Chicken franchise — stylized as “PONKO” — will open on January 27, 2021, in Alpharetta, at 220 South Main Street Suite J, a spokesperson Friday confirmed in an email to What Now Atlanta. It is the company’s eighth restaurant in the Atlanta area.
“We wanted to do something together that would provide something brand new to an area that wants to try things first,” Rick and Sue Hermann, the franchisees of the Alpharetta Ponko, said in a prepared statement. “We couldn’t think of a better location than this community.”
The Japanese-fusion, fast-casual eatery is housed in The Maxwell development. It will service chicken sandwiches, salads, and tacos, all prepared in small batches and with rice bran oil “which brings about many benefits including lowering cholesterol, being rich in vitamin E, and aiding in weight loss.”
The “Eats Meets West” restaurant was aiming to be open in late-2020 after its buildout got underway in mid-2020. Founders Maggie Antoine and Reiko Clark joined forces with Dr. Partick Sallarulo to relaunch the brand in 2017. Together, they opened the flagship Ponko in Chamblee, and a year later, started offering franchise opportunities.
