Copeland’s of New Orleans restaurants get redesigned | Where NOLA Eats

Fried Chicken with Biscuits and Red Beans at Copeland’s of New Orleans are each a little different from Popeye’s, but their recipes were set by the same hand and they won’t be changing anytime soon. The artichoke and spinach dip with fried fly noodles screams for a throwback dish, but it remains a big seller and isn’t going anywhere either.

But beyond the menu, much will change for all of Copeland’s restaurants. A restaurant name turning 40 this year is now trying to reintroduce itself in a changing restaurant market, and a new design and branding overhaul are part of that pitch.

To see what’s to come for the 16 locations now in the area, visit Copeland’s in Covington.

A nearly $1.4 million project has transformed the look and feel of the grand restaurant, and those changes will be replicated at all other locations in the coming months.

“Staying relevant after 40 years is a big deal for me,” said Al Copeland Jr., president and CEO of parent company Al Copeland Concepts. “How do you take an institutional brand and keep it relevant through the changing times? We’re trying to modernize a slice of classic New Orleans.”

New philosophy

His father, the late Al Copeland Sr., was already famous as the founder of Popeyes when he opened the first Copeland’s in New Orleans in 1983. The idea, as his son recalls today, was to “present fine dining in a casual setting.”

“When he created it, he wanted it to be cold, dark and loud,” Copeland said. “That was his restaurant philosophy. But now we’ve gone bright, bright, modern and fun. What was alive then is different today.”

The restaurant looks different from the street, starting with the name font, a new design that updates the flowing letters of the past.

An expanded patio adds more al fresco dining. Inside, a bakery area was moved to the kitchen and the entrance opened up. There are brighter colors, more natural light, and different dining areas around the great room, from bar to banquet.

While the menu includes some dishes that have rotated since 1983, lighter additions have popped up, like the “garden chicken” (grilled and served with pumpkin noodles and lemon butter). Lighter dishes along these lines will eventually make their way onto the menu.

There were once 40 Copeland’s restaurants in the 1980s. Now the brand has 16 locations, a mix of franchises and restaurants operated by Copeland’s companies. The company remains a family affair. Copeland’s daughter, Allison Donnelly, now heads the restaurant department.

She said the new design and branding was partly guided by the restaurants’ experiences with the pandemic. Copeland’s introduced an option for curbside takeout years ago and expanded heavily in the early stages of the crisis. Takeaway now accounts for 30% of sales.

Donnelly said much of that growth is coming from younger customers. Part of the goal of the redesign was to make eating at the restaurant more appealing to them as well.

“These are people who remember Copeland’s because they came with their families or for prom dinners,” she said. “We want them to bring their families as their families brought them.”

Although Al Copeland Sr. founded Popeyes, he lost his creation to creditors in the 1990s. It is now a Florida based company that has expanded globally.

However, Al Copeland Jr. and his family still operate the Madisonville-based food company Diversified Foods and Seasonings, which supplies Popeyes with his fried chicken seasoning mix, his red beans and Cajun rice, his biscuit mix, and other cornerstone flavors.

Diversified also supplies Copeland’s restaurants. The fried chicken spice mix is ​​different from Popeye’s (and similarly it’s secret, Copeland confirmed), but paired with smoky-flavored red beans and a biscuit, it hits notes as familiar as the Copeland restaurant’s name itself.

Copelands of New Orleans

660 highway. 190, Covington, (985) 809-9659

Visit copelandsofneworleans.com for other locations