Restaurants

After stints in Forest Hill, Church Hill and Manchester, a local chocolate maker is up and running in her new downtown digs.

“Even when we were riding around in the Chicken Fiesta van scoping out spots, people would come up and ask if we were about to open a restaurant in the area,” general manager Shana Greenbaum said.

An international chicken chain is preparing to roost its first Richmond area restaurant in the heart of VCU.

“It’s certainly where we would like to be,” franchisee Ritesh Brahmbhatt said of Scott’s Addition. “We want to get this location going and on a routine before we fully dive into another operation.”

The concept for a recently closed Northside neighborhood coffee shop space is about to change, while a short-lived Southside restaurant calls it quits.

Secret Sandwich Society, a West Virginia restaurant brand, is preparing to launch its first Richmond location at 501 E. Grace St. in the coming days.

“Where we are now, no one gets to see how we make the chocolates, what goes into the chocolate making process,” owner Kelly Walker Wombold said. “Now, with us moving downtown, they’ll be able to see what goes into the process…it’s what our customers wanted.”

An out-of-town restaurant group is taking a dip into the local dining scene, as it plots its first fish and shrimp outpost in the Richmond area.

A vacant Meadow Street bakery is ready to be reheated, as a pastry chef plans to carve a place for her European- and French-inspired eatery.

Following their recent purchase of a storefront in Jackson Ward, a local couple’s plan for the neighborhood’s first juice and yoga bar is beginning to bear fruit.