Tops Bar-B-Q & Burgers is remembering its customers during this holiday season. One gift might have to be unwrapped. The other won’t be opened until after Christmas.
“Tops Kickin’ Chicken” is the one that might have to be unwrapped (from its paper cover, if you get it to go).
The other gift is the Memphis chain’s newest location, which is in Jonesboro, Arkansas. It’s slated to open between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
First, the chicken, which should be considered a stomach stuffer, not a stocking stuffer. Tops uses its smoked pulled chicken, which the restaurant introduced as a limited-time special two years ago, says Tops executive Hunter Brown. “The demand was so high that guests forced us to put it on the permanent menu,” he says.
For the Kickin’ Chicken sandwich, Tops added a blend of its spices along with Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce. And, Brown says. “We added a nice, smoothy cream ranch on top over a bed of slaw. So, it gives it that barbecue feel, but with a buffalo chicken twist.”
The Kickin’ Chicken sandwich could become a permanent menu item as well if the demand for it is there, Brown says.
As for that new location, Tops will open its Jonesboro location off I-55 at 4114 East Johnson Avenue.
“The growth in this town is just booming,” Brown says. The location is in the new Hilltop area, which is about a mile and a half from the University of Arkansas campus. Jonesboro has a population of 90,000 permanent residents, which is “nearly a 20 percent growth from the 2020 census,” Brown says. And an additional 20,000 residents are students at the university, he says.
Tops already has a successful location in Marion, Arkansas, Brown says. So, travelers who are not necessarily going to stop in Memphis, but could be traveling from Alabama to St. Louis have already been able to get their “Tops BBQ fix” in Arkansas.
