Bojangles' dropping 4 menu items, announces closing of 10 restaurants

Looks like it's not Bo time for everyone - that's right, Bojangles' announced that it plans to close 10 company-operated stores in the next few months.

The company said locations outside of the Carolinas will close.

"On August 12 Bojangles' closed 10 underperforming company-operated restaurants outside of the Carolinas. The restaurants that were closed are in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. There are no restaurants scheduled to be closed in the Carolinas. Bojangles' has 760 system-wide restaurants, and fans are encouraged to visit one of our other nearby restaurant locations in those markets," spokesman Brian Little said.

But this isn't the first time Bojangles' has shrunk in size.

After expanding outside the Southeast in the 1980s, Bojangles' shrank to fewer than 200 restaurants, The Charlotte Observer reported. Now, Bojangles' has grown to 766 restaurants, which includes 325 company-operated locations and 441 franchised locations.

C.L. King analyst Michael Gallo told The Charlotte Observer that part of the problem is that people aren't recognizing those iconic yellow chicken-and-biscuits boxes.

Gallo also said it's also tough to make breakfast popular in new markets, even though the "most important meal of the day" comprises about 40 percent of the company's sales.

In addition to the closures, which should be completed by the end of the year, the company is dropping four menu items.

Interim CEO James "Randy" Kibler said the company is ditching its jambalaya bowl, smoked sausage biscuit, barbecue pork sandwich, and Cheddar Bo Biscuit because they aren't bringing in enough dough.

"We think (removing the four items) will help us increase the speed of service, raising the quality of our existing menu items and lessening our menu complexity as well as reducing waste," Kibler said.

The company is still looking to replace its CEO after Clifton Rutledge, a former executive at Texas-based Whataburger, stepped down abruptly in March after about four years.

It's an act experts believe may have added to the closures.