Daniel Hospitality Group is planning to open a Bush’s Chicken quick service restaurant in the Ponte’s Diner building on U.S. 84 in the next several months.

Sammy’s Restaurant will be closed in the next few days and remodeled into a new Ponte’s Diner. Once this is complete, Ponte’s will move into the building and the old Ponte’s building is to be remodeled into a Bush’s Chicken.

Plans are to have all work completed by the Freestone County Fair in June.

“I’ve been asked, ‘why are we doing this?’ We feel that Fairfield has an over abundance of table service restaurants for a town its size. More and more people are looking for the value that a quick service restaurant offers and we wanted to tap into this market with a brand that has a good product and a good reputation,” Gilbert “Sonny” Daniel says.

“I know personally that when a family has so many extracurricular activities, church functions, and obligations going that a quick meal is sometimes all you have time for,” he adds.

DHG has been working on this project silently since September of 2009 when it first contacted Bush’s Chicken.

Daniel’s representatives met with James T. Hammock (Chairman, Hammock Partners) and James J. (Jeff) Hammock (President, Hammock Partners), current owners of the Bush’s Chicken Franchise, several times over the last six months discussing their business model, franchise requirements, future growth of the chain, contracts, etc.

Since being a franchisee is a new thing for DHG, the group wanted to ensure that it was a good ‘fit’ and that the Hammocks had the same passion for the restaurant business.

James T. Hammock is originally from Hubbard and his mother still lives there today. The Hammocks currently reside in Austin and operate several Bush’s themselves in that area.

Bush’s Chicken Restaurants are fast food restaurants offering high quality fried chicken and side items such as French fried potatoes, fried okra, fried pies, cole slaw, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, gravy, jalapenos, rolls, iced tea (sweetened and unsweetened) and soft drinks.

The restaurant offers dine-in, take-out, and drive-through service.

The Bush’s Chicken concept was started in 1998 by Keith and Charlene Bush. The Hammocks acquired the rights to franchise Bush’s Chicken from Bush’s Chicken Restaurant, Ltd. in November 2005.

Sammy’s Restaurant will be remodeled first and will be closed for approximately two weeks to accomplish this and will reopen as Ponte’s Diner. All the existing tables, booths, and chairs will be moved out to storage and the tables, chairs, and booths from Ponte’s moved in. All the wall décor from Pontes will be moved over, along with most everything else. The neon Ponte’s sign will also be moved.

The new Ponte’s will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Menus from Sammy’s and Ponte’s will be combined into a new one, keeping the daily specials from both. A few new items are to be added to get more into the ‘Diner’ type of food.

The restaurant will be non-smoking.

Any employees that wish to remain at Ponte’s will move with the business. Any Ponte’s employees wanting to work at Bush’s Chicken will be allowed to. Any Sammy’s employees wanting to stay will work at the new Ponte’s.

Several more workers will be hired to help staff the car lanes and registers at Bush’s.

The Ponte’s Diner building will be completely redone. New bathrooms will be constructed, new walls, new ceilings, and new floors. All new kitchen equipment will be put in along with new tables, chairs, and booths. Tables will be done in FHS colors and school spirit/memorabilia will be featured throughout. The parking lot will be redone and will feature three drive-thru lanes to expedite service. The goal is two minutes to order completion.

Matthew (Shaun) Allen will be the manager over the store and will be attending training in Austin starting this week. Allen has worked at Gilberto’s for the last three years as a server and as a bartender. He has shown great personal growth and maturity in that time and looks forward to the challenge of operating a quick service restaurant.

Assistant manager of Bush’s is Mary Stark, who has worked at Ponte’s for three years, and office general manager Kenny Hughes will work as an extra manager during the opening weeks.

Bryan Downs, senior manager at Gilberto’s, will also be attending training in Austin to work as a fill in manager / trainer as needed.

Community National Bank of Fairfield is financing the remodel and equipment purchases.

Abacus Engineering of Hewitt prepared the architectural and engineering plans.

Daniel Hospitality Group, LLC is a limited liability company formed by Gilbert Daniel, Sr. and Gilbert Daniel, Jr. to develop new food service concepts in this area.