Zea Rotisserie & Bar, part of Taste Buds Management, will soon open its location in Ridgeland, a suburb of Jackson, Mississippi, in The Renaissance at the Colony Park. With an anticipated opening of Q3 2019, the restaurant will feature an expanded bar area, communal seating and outdoor dining options as well as an exposed kitchen.
“We are excited to open in Ridgeland next year,” says Chief Operating Officer, Paul Hutson. “We believe Zea will be a tremendous complement to the mix of restaurants in the area. Our authentic open flame rotisserie and unique twist on comfort food, along with our new contemporary craft bar, will be a fantastic choice for dining and entertainment. More importantly, we are honored to provide opportunity for our people. With this opening, we plan to add five to six managers and approximately 75 staff members to our Taste Buds family.”
Zea Renaissance will mark Zea’s 11th location in the South since the Taste Buds opened in 1997. The company has been awarded accolades like The Times Picayune’s Top Work Places in New Orleans and Full Service Restaurant’s Top 50 Emerging Chains in the Nation. Hutson contributes the business’ continued success to their commitment to the model of “culture over growth.”
Hutson continues, “At Zea and Taste Buds Management, we are firmly committed to building a great company, not just a big one. While we are determined as a business to sustain our growth plan, we will never sacrifice the values that make our company a great place to work.”
With one new store projected to open each year for the next several years, the company and its leaders look for opportunities to expand in the South and specifically in the Carolinas for 2020 and beyond.
Zea is the brainchild of Hans Limburg, Gary Darling, and Greg Reggio, collectively known as The Taste Buds. The first Zea location opened in Harahan, LA in June 1997 and now has grown to locations in the Greater New Orleans Area and beyond including Covington, LA; Slidell, LA; Lafayette, LA; and Baton Rouge, LA. Zea offers modern comfort food, including signature menu items, such as Rotisserie meats, Roasted Corn Grits and Thai Ribs.
