Voodoo Doughnut’s Taking Over Former Austin Fried Chicken Restaurant

Portland-based sweets chain Voodoo Doughnut is opening its second Austin location this year. The new doughnut shop will be found in the Allandale neighborhood at 5408 Burnet Road sometime by the end of the year.

The address had previously housed a location of Austin mini-chain Lucy’s Fried Chicken. Owner James Holmes opened that location in 2013, but shuttered it in March 2022. The restaurant’s locations on South Congress and Cedar Park remain open, but Lake Travis closed in 2020.

Over in Portland, Voodoo Doughnut employees have been attempting to unionize starting in March 2020, due to the pandemic. The group has claimed that Voodoo has been union-busting since then, from not recognizing the union, firing employees who walked out due to working conditions during a heatwave, and removing information about the union from the store, all as reported by Eater Portland. The Old Town neighborhood location successfully unionized in September 2022, joining the Doughnut Workers United (DWU) union.

Voodoo opened its first Austin location in 2015 on Sixth Street. This will be Voodoo’s overall 18th location in the country.