Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen is a popular fast-casual seafood restaurant and they just signed on a new location for Camden NJ on Mount Ephraim Ave, taking over a building which originally was built as a Church’s Chicken.
Captain D’s Expects the new location to open in 2024. This will be the first Northeast location for the popular restaurant chain which has over 530 locations!
Captain D’s serves a wide variety of seafood that includes freshly prepared entrees and the company’s signature batter dipped fish. Chicken tenders are also a popular item. Right now they are promoting a selection of $5.99 Meal Deals, which is a great price in today’s economy!
While unknown in our area, Captain D’s is very popular elsewhere in the country. Looking at their location map it seems the closest open location to us is in Fredericksburg VA… so the new Camden location is a decent jump into the Northeast territory!
The Camden location is being developed by Jujhar Rai and Maliha Rahmani. Records show they are local owners who live in Gloucester County! Together they have 23 years of experience in restaurant franchising. They currently operate a Checkers restaurant and have been owner/operators with Church’s Chicken and Popeyes in the past.
For this New Jersey location the property is at 1701 Mt Ephraim Avenue at the corner of Carl Miller Boulevard. This is about a mile north of the Save-A-Lot shopping center (which many readers are likely to be aware of, and possibly remember that shopping center when it was home to a Pathmark). The location offers convenient access from the Black Horse Pike, Route 130 and other major roads.
The Church’s Chicken building was most recently home to Cozy Fried Chicken and Grill, but it is now unoccupied.
Captain D’s promotes a new and modern restaurant design, but it’s unclear at this time to what degree the Camden building will be remodeled. That being said on their social media pages the promote new store openings with a photo, and it appears the locations opened in 2023 all carry the core design elements.
The Captain D’s Press Release states that over the past year, 50% of Captain D’s new openings have been conversions of buildings developed originally as other brands, giving new life to properties formerly occupied by chains like KFC, Hardee’s, Dunkin’ and more. They have tracked that Captain D’s is now open in buildings which represent 18 different original brands!
“Jujhar, Maliha and Farid recognized valuable properties in their markets that are ripe for repurposing and came to Captain D’s because of our conversion expertise and our unique seafood category. In this increasingly competitive real estate market, converting an existing building can save significantly on start-up costs. We look forward to working with these dedicated professionals and utilizing existing efficiencies to get them up and running faster to serve their communities.”
Brad Reed, chief development officer of Captain D’s
Captain D’s – Leading Fast Casual Seafood
Captain D’s calls themselves the nation’s leading fast casual seafood restaurant.
As mentioned while they are unknown in our area up to this point, they currently have 535 locations in the US. Of those locations 311 are franchises and 224 are Corporate owned.
Today they are based out of Nashville TN, and were named the number one seafood chain in an industry publication.
Captain D’s traces its roots back to 1969 and have been offering high quality seafood at reasonable prices for over 50 years.
They serve a wide variety of seafood which includes freshly prepared entrees, and the signature batter dipped fish… which also includes catfish and whitefish.
They also offer chicken tenders which are available in a platter by itself, as well as in combos with their delicious battered fish.
The menu is rounded out by offering premium quality grilled items such as shrimp, tilapia and salmon. Sides and dessert items include hush puppies, coleslaw, loaded potato soup, Oreo Cookies & Cream Cheesecake and freshly brewed southern style sweet tea.
Links and Location
Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen – Coming in 2024 to Camden
1701 Mt Ephraim Ave
Camden NJ