New Worcester Popeyes Restaurant Would Take Over Closed Diner

WORCESTER, MA — A Popeyes restaurant may soon open on the site of a long-closed diner at Lincoln Plaza.

One of the largest restaurant franchise companies in the U.S., New Jersey-based The Parikh Network, is seeking approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals to open the Popeyes at Lincoln Plaza at the site of the former 5 & Diner — closed since 2012.

Plans submitted to the ZBA call for the steel-clad diner building to be torn down for a one-story Popeyes that would mainly serve drive-up customers. Popeyes has a limited presence west of I-95, with locations on Park Avenue in Worcester, and in Leominster and Woonsocket, RI.

The Popeyes application is set to go before the ZBA on Monday.

The restaurant would create somewhat of a fried chicken district along Lincoln Street. The Popeyes would be a stone's throw from a combined KFC-Taco Bell drive-thru, and a popular Crown Fried Chicken restaurant at the corner of Bates Avenue.

Perhaps appropriately, the Popeyes would be located just a short walk from the new Planet Fitness gym at Lincoln Plaza.