Kuzzos Chicken & Waffles

What Kuzzos Chicken & Waffles does

Kuzzo's Chicken & Waffles is a privately held, single-location Southern-inspired restaurant founded on January 27, 2015 by Ron Bartell, a former NFL cornerback who played nine seasons for the St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions, and Oakland Raiders. The restaurant operates at 19345 Livernois Avenue on Detroit's Avenue of Fashion commercial corridor in northwest Detroit, with the underlying real estate owned by Bartell's Michigan-based property investment company, R & J Development. The business serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a menu anchored by its signature chicken and waffles dish and complemented by items such as sweet potato waffles, fried green tomatoes, sandwiches, burgers, and Southern-inspired craft cocktails.

The company operates a traditional dine-in restaurant with limited operating hours (Tuesday-Saturday 10AM-8PM, Sunday 10AM-6PM, closed Mondays) and extends its reach through four third-party delivery partnerships with DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, and Black and Mobile. There is no proprietary technology underlying the operation; the restaurant uses standard commercial kitchen operations and relies on Instagram and earned local media coverage (Detroit Free Press, MLive, Detroit Eater, ClickOnDetroit, Crain's Detroit Business, WXYZ ABC 7, Men's Journal, Metro Times) for marketing. The business has approximately 11 employees and no disclosed funding rounds, external investors, or parent company.

Revenue is generated entirely through consumer-facing transactions (dine-in and carryout/delivery), with no catering, wholesale, franchising, or B2B revenue streams disclosed. The company's strategic positioning combines a quality-focused comfort food menu with an explicit community development mission to revitalize the Livernois corridor and demonstrate African American entrepreneurial success in Detroit, supported by the 2015 Metro Times Best of Detroit 'Best Chicken & Waffles Restaurant' award and the cultural resonance of the 'Kuzzo' brand name (a term of endearment). The business shows no evidence of expansion plans, technology investment, or capital-raising activity in the input data, indicating a steady-state local operation rather than a growth-stage enterprise.

Name

Kuzzos Chicken & Waffles

Legal name

Kuzzo's Chicken & Waffles

Website

https://kuzzoschickenandwaffles.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kuzzo's Chicken & Waffles is a single-location Southern-inspired restaurant on Detroit's Avenue of Fashion serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner — anchored by signature chicken and waffles — to the local northwest Detroit community via dine-in, carryout, and third-party delivery.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Casual Dining Restaurant

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAFACAD

Ethnic & Regional Cuisine Restaurants

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Full-Service Restaurants (Casual & Fine Dining)

SECONDARYTHAFACAJ

All-Day Dining Restaurants

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Full-Service Restaurants (Casual & Fine Dining)

Keywords

• Southern comfort food
• Chicken and waffles
• Sit-down restaurant
• Breakfast lunch dinner
• Carryout and delivery

Headquarters

HQ city

Detroit

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Dine-in Restaurant Sales: Revenue from customers dining at the physical restaurant location on Livernois Avenue in Detroit, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner items including chicken and waffles, sandwiches, burgers, and entrees.
2. Carry-out and Delivery: Revenue from carry-out orders placed directly and through third-party delivery platforms including DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, and Black and Mobile.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Kuzzo's Chicken & Waffles is a single-location Southern-inspired restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a signature chicken and waffles dish complemented by items such as sweet potato waffles, fried green tomatoes, sandwiches, burgers, and craft cocktails. The Detroit restaurant on the Avenue of Fashion provides dine-in service, direct carry-out, and delivery through third-party platforms DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, and Black and Mobile.

Product overview

Kuzzo's Chicken & Waffles is a single-location Southern-inspired restaurant offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner service. The core product is their signature chicken and waffles dish, complemented by items like sweet potato waffles and fried green tomatoes. The restaurant operates dine-in service and partners with third-party delivery platforms (UberEats, DoorDash, Grubhub, Black and Mobile) for carryout and delivery orders. Southern-inspired craft cocktails are also available.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Chicken & Waffles The restaurant's signature dish featuring crispy fried chicken served with waffles, targeted at local Detroit diners and delivery customers seeking Southern-inspired comfort food.
• Sweet Potato Waffle A sweet potato-based waffle featured as a menu item on the Kuzzo's menu for dine-in and carry-out customers.
• Fried Green Tomatoes Southern-inspired appetizer featuring breaded and fried green tomatoes, served at the restaurant for dine-in and carry-out customers.
• Carryout and Delivery Service Food ordering and delivery service offered through third-party platforms (Black and Mobile, UberEats, DoorDash, Grubhub), allowing Detroit-area customers to order Kuzzo's menu items for carry-out or home delivery.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• DoorDashminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party delivery partnership allowing customers to order Kuzzo's menu items for home delivery through the DoorDash platform.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store: Nationwide chain serving Southern comfort food across all dayparts. Comparable to Kuzzo's on Southern comfort food menu and breakfast-all-day positioning, but operates at vastly larger scale with broader geographic footprint.
• Bojangles': Large Southern fast-food chain specializing in chicken and biscuits with breakfast-all-day service. Comparable to Kuzzo's on Southern chicken specialization and breakfast positioning, though primarily counter-service QSR format.
• Church's Chicken: National chicken-focused QSR chain. Comparable to Kuzzo's on chicken-centric menu focus, though operates as a high-volume QSR rather than a full-service Southern comfort food experience.
• American Deli: Southern-based fast-food chain specializing in fried chicken, wings, and Southern sides. Comparable to Kuzzo's on Southern comfort food positioning, though operates at a QSR counter-service scale rather than dine-in full service.

Direct peers

• Sweet Chick: New York-based chicken and waffles specialist with multiple locations and a strong brunch/all-day dining identity. Directly comparable to Kuzzo's on menu focus (chicken & waffles), daypart coverage, and craft beverage program.
• The Busy Bee Cafe: Atlanta-based historic Southern soul food restaurant. Comparable to Kuzzo's as a single-location Southern comfort food institution with strong local recognition and community ties, though a different scale profile.
• Hattie B's Hot Chicken: Nashville-founded Southern fried chicken chain with multiple locations. Directly comparable on Southern chicken specialization, dine-in experience, and growing multi-unit footprint in the same category as Kuzzo's signature dish.
• Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken: Memphis-originated Southern fried chicken restaurant with multiple locations nationwide. Directly comparable on Southern fried chicken specialization, full-service format, and small-chain growth trajectory.
• Yardbird Southern Table & Bar: Miami-based upscale Southern comfort food restaurant with locations in major U.S. cities. Directly comparable on Southern-inspired full-service dining, craft cocktails, and elevated comfort food positioning.
• Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles: Los Angeles-based chicken and waffles institution with multiple locations, recognized as the most iconic chain in the chicken & waffles category. Directly comparable to Kuzzo's on signature dish, Southern comfort food positioning, and full-service dine-in model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kuzzos-chicken-&-waffles

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kuzzos Chicken & Waffles