(Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Florence may have an outsize impact on sales at fried-chicken chain Bojangles' Inc.
About 69 percent of the company's 766 restaurants are in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence. Zaxby's and Bloomin' Brands Inc. also have a significant presence in the states where the hurricane is expected to make landfall on Thursday or Friday.
Restaurants typically see a drop in demand leading up to big storms as consumers stock pantries and buy supplies to secure their homes. But some eateries, especially pizza chains, see a sales bump after the bad weather passes, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jennifer Bartashus.
“You usually see a decline ahead and a little bit of a pick up after,” she said. “The bigger question is how long restaurants may be closed and how much damage that may occur if they're in the direct path of the storm.”
Bojangles' fell as much as 6.1 percent Wednesday, the most in six months, and traded down 5.4 percent at $13.15 as of 1:17 p.m. in New York. The shares of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company gained 18 percent this year through Tuesday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Leslie Patton in Chicago at lpatton5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Roeder, Lisa Wolfson
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