BY JENN SAMSEL AND DAN HILDEBRAN
Zaxby’s franchisee BSBC opened its 13th location in Keystone Heights, marking the event with a ribbon-cutting on Monday, December 15.
That followed a friends-and-family soft opening the previous Saturday.
BSBC is named after the franchisees’s partners: Boris Ochsenius, Shaun Morris, Blake Fletcher and Cotton Fletcher.
Morris said the company chose Keystone Heights because of its small-town feel and great people.
He added that he and Ochsenius started at the bottom and rose through the ranks over 14 years.
“Boris and I both started in 2002 as kids, as cooks, worked our way up, and now we’re franchisees,” he said. “It’s been pretty exciting over the last 20-something years.”
Morris, who grew up in Gainesville, said his company opened its first Zaxby’s in the Orlando suburb of Ocoee in 2016.
Since then, the company has launched seven more Orlando-area stores, three in the St. Petersburg area and one in Gainesville.
Morris said BSBC hired 60 employees for the 7455 State Road 21 location, bringing the franchisee’s total headcount to 400.
Zaxby’s, known for its chicken fingers, wings, salads, and sandwiches, is based in Georgia and is actively expanding. This particular site marks one of its first rural locations, with plans to open additional sites in northern Florida.
Franchisee Matt Karlton opened Starke’s Zaxby’s in October 2024. The Lake City resident rolled out his first Zaxby’s in Live Oak in 2012 and added Clermont four years later.
