Baton Rouge-based Chris’s Specialty Foods is moving into the former Maxwell’s Market space off of Highland Road and will begin serving home-cooked meals.
Owner Tressy Leindecker says the building’s owner approached her about the 5,000-square-foot space being available and the possibility of expanding into serving a selection of dine-in meals that the market traditionally has sold to-go. Maxwell’s closed in January, after being open since 2009.
“The last 30 years, we’ve traditionally been a meat market where you pick up items to cook,” Leindecker says. “Half of this space will be occupied by a restaurant that will serve our home-cooked lunches.”
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Along with lunches, the restaurant portion of the space will be available for corporate events, she says.
“We would love to serve some boiled crawfish Friday evenings,” she says. “We’re in a holding pattern to see what the crawfish industry is going to do with the drought from over the summer.”
Along with the Highland location, Chris’s is also looking to expand to Central with a new location on Wax Road. The Central store, located next to the former Sammy’s, will operate as one of the brand’s traditional satellite stores, Leindecker says.
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With the two new stores, Chris’s footprint expands to five locations in South Louisiana. The grocer also has stores off of Millerville Road as well as in Prairieville and New Orleans.
Both locations are expected to open next month.
This story originally appeared in a Feb. 8 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.