Chicken and waffles restaurant will add a second location in Tacoma

Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles will open a second restaurant potentially before the end of the summer and this time with late-night hours.

Owner Buddy Brown confirmed that it will be located in Tacoma and will offer later hours than the original in the Lincoln District, which will continue. He also operates a food truck, which he said has been steadily improving with recurring events and private bookings — success that helped buoy the possibility of another brick-and-mortar.

The exact location for Buddy’s No. 2 is still under wraps, but he said it has a commercial kitchen that was recently in use. He also teased that it would be a good spot for “late-night or later night” hours.

The menu will mirror the wonderfully seasoned chicken tenders in a flagship flavor and a dry-rub hot style, breaded and fried to order, that fans have learned to love over several years of Buddy’s presence in Tacoma. You can order with crinkle-cut fries or, as the name suggests, waffles in various flavors, including the best-selling strawberry shortcake and Southern cornbread. Specials roll in and out, from Old Bay to ube coconut.

The new location will serve limited alcohol, focused on spiked lemonades and mimosas, but Brown stressed that the concept is really about the chicken and waffles.

In recent weeks, the affable entrepreneur had dropped some hints on Instagram, where he regularly posts candid updates of his life as a small food-business owner. On Wednesday, he was a bit more specific: “Guess what ya’ll… Hint: It rhymes with… Second Location.” Later that day, he shared a couple of videos further explaining his decision to embark on a second spot.

Brown admitted to his nearly 25,000 followers — a large sum among Tacoma-area restaurants — that he might sound crazy. His journey to opening his first spot was arduous, kickstarted by a crowdfunding campaign that helped him launch a ghost kitchen in 2021, which led to a lease on a downtown location that never worked out. In 2023, he landed the former Uncle Thurm’s Soul Food spot at 3709 S. G St. in the Lincoln District. It took another year — and some struggles with the city and a plumbing permit as it pertained to the restaurant’s grease trap, TNT Diner reported — before Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles opened for service.

“I was not looking for another restaurant!” he told TNT Diner in a phone call on Thursday. But his restaurant manager in the Lincoln District leads “a team where she feels like she can take on more things — thankfully this more thing is another restaurant,” said Brown.

In one of his Instagram videos this week, he added that the business in the Lincoln District has done well.

“I’m so very proud of myself — I’ve come so far from where I started selling food from my brother’s kitchen,” he said.

When his manager found the new space, he saw the opportunity as impossible to pass up, especially as it would fulfill his original vision of a late-night brunch concept.

The property owners are going to cover some of the work necessary to reactivate the kitchen, he said, and they are on a fast timeline: He hopes to open before the school year starts again.

Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles

• Currently open at 3709 S. G St., Tacoma, 253-201-1550, buddyschickenandwaffles.com
• Tuesday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday-Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• New location in Tacoma, exact address TBA with target opening Summer 2026; follow instagram.com/buddyschickenandwaffles for updates