Uncle Lou's Fried Chicken is making big changes. Here's a sneak peek at what's planned.

Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken is getting a big upgrade this spring.

The fried chicken joint is moving from its current location at 3633 Millbranch Road to a standalone building less than half a mile away at 1725 Winchester Road. The new location was previously a Wendy’s.

Owner Lou Martin said he’s been pursuing a move for the last three years. The new location has some major benefits.

“It’s a bigger place, has its own private parking and most importantly has a drive-thru," Martin said. “We should be running anywhere from four to six hours a day longer, including breakfast and late night, than what we run now.”

Martin said the combination of a drive-thru plus the extended hours should create a major increase in business. There will also be room for outdoor seating, something Uncle Lou’s has never had the space for.

”Kind of like our own personal picnic area,” he said. “What goes better on a picnic than fried chicken?”

Uncle Lou’s menu has shuffled around the last few years. Since 2020 Lou’s has dropped items like the bologna, steak and fish sandwiches, but added his premium sides: Green Beans with Potatoes, Honey Mac and Cheese, and Sweet Spicy Love Beans.

Martin expects to add breakfast items, like the usual bacon, ham or chicken and biscuits after the restaurant has been open for a few weeks, in order not to overwhelm his staff. Though the menu has changed quite a bit in recent years, “All of our basics are definitely going to stay the same, so I just got to figure out what makes sense.”

While there will be some additions to the menu, that also means some of the less popular items will disappear. Martin knows you can’t make everyone happy.

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“It’s a lot easier to add than to take away,” he said laughing. “You might have a handful of people that are just craving [a menu item], but they’d be the only ones though. That’s why I’m taking a hard look.”

Martin said construction should start at the beginning of April and last three to four months — he hopes to have the new location ready to open by late spring. Only seven to 10 days of closure are expected during the transition to the new location.

Uncle Lou’s is not only locally famous, but world famous. In 2008 Food Network contacted Martin and featured his restaurant on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Martin said that appearance completely revived Uncle Lou's, but he knows a shot at national attention is something not every small business receives.

“Uncle Lou’s was about to not be a thing until Food Network called,” he said. "There’s a lot of businesses with good ideas and good products and good service, but you got to be fortunate enough to have staying power so enough people can find out enough about you.”

But cooking chicken with Fieri doesn’t keep people coming back for decades — great food does. Now 16 years on from that appearance, Uncle Lou’s is doing better than ever.

Besides that 2008 feature, Lou’s has also appeared on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” as well as “Off The Eaten Path” from Southern Living. The restaurant has received multiple awards in its near 23-year history, including winning back-to-back People’s Choice Awards at Food Network’s South Beach Wine and Food Festival in 2023 and 2024. It’s the first back-to-back win in the competition’s 23-year history, and it's thanks to Martin’s Honey Butter Biscuits and Sweet Spicy Love Chicken Tenderloins.

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Like many restaurant owners, Martin said it’s the people, both customers and co-workers, who keep him passionate about the job. Though it’s hard work, after 40 years in the business he’s still passionate about what he does.

“You got to love this industry to be able to work in it,” he said. “It’s up and down, you’re either a hero one day, and then a villain one day. For me it’s the people, the team that I have now. My management team is exceptional now… we try to keep everything upbeat.”

Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis restaurant Uncle Lou's Fried Chicken is moving, making changes