Dutch Bros Coffee, Guthrie's Chicken to Fill Burlington's Former O'Charley's

The long-vacant O'Charley's site at 521 Huffman Mill Road received building permits on March 31 for two incoming tenants: Dutch Bros Coffee and Guthrie's Chicken Fingers, each opening their first Alamance County location.

The permits, filed with Burlington's inspections department, put formal construction authority behind what would be a significant addition to the Huffman Mill Road retail corridor. The address sits between Burlington Coat Factory and Academy Sports in one of the city's busiest commercial nodes, drawing both local shoppers and highway traffic through the area. The O'Charley's had been vacant for years after the national chain closed its Burlington outpost, leaving a conspicuous gap in a stretch of road that otherwise sees steady retail activity.

Dutch Bros is the bigger national name: a drive-through coffee chain founded in 1992 in Grants Pass, Oregon, where it started as a pushcart, that now operates more than 1,100 locations across the country. The company has been expanding aggressively in the Southeast in recent years and would enter a Huffman Mill corridor where larger national coffee brands already operate, competing primarily through its drive-through format.

Guthrie's Chicken Fingers brings a different profile. Based in Auburn, Alabama, the fast-casual chicken concept has grown steadily over roughly six decades, with an expansion footprint concentrated in the Southeast. Its slower, market-by-market growth distinguishes it from more aggressive chains in the increasingly crowded chicken-fingers category.

Neither company has announced an official opening timeline. The March 31 permits mark the first formal milestone; interior renovations and sign work typically follow, then city inspections and a certificate of occupancy. Burlington's inspections department would record subsequent permits as construction advances.

The pairing of two recognizable quick-service brands reflects continued national retail confidence in Burlington as an expansion target, consistent with broader commercial growth across Alamance County. For the Huffman Mill corridor specifically, filling the long-empty O'Charley's footprint with two high-traffic tenants stands to close a gap that has persisted in that node for years.