CK's Buffet, a new all-you-care-to-eat restaurant featuring fried chicken, opened Saturday in Fulton.
The buffet restaurant is located at 1506 N. Bluff St. in a building occupied previously by a combination Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurant.
"We decided to open at about the same time that McDonald's Restaurant closed to be rebuilt in Fulton," said Roger Hudson, who co-owns the new restaurant with his wife Angi.
Hudson is no stranger to the restaurant business. He was a regional manager for the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain for 15 years in the Springfield, Mo., area.
Now Hudson has decided to open his own restaurant using the skills he learned managing restaurants for a big corporation. CK's Buffet is not a chain restaurant.
"We decided there is a need for an all-you-can-eat restaurant. I see our new buffet restaurant as a mini Golden Corral restaurant," Hudson said.
CK's restaurant will seat about 90 people. Hudson said he was able to use some of the equipment from the restaurant that remained.
"We will have about 15 employees. Most of them are already hired. This is truly a family-run business because my wife and I and our son and our daughter will all work here in the restaurant," Hudson said.
The buffet will feature fried chicken, barbecued chicken, beef, and ham. "We will have potatoes and gravy and and numerous other dishes. We have a big salad bar," Hudson said.
The all-you-care-to-eat buffet is priced at $6.75 for lunch and $7.75 for dinner. Drinks are extra. Children ages 6 to 12 can eat for $3.49, with drink included. Children age 5 and under are $1.49, with a drink included.
"We will have at least 48 items on our buffet. We also will offer fried chicken or a salad to go," Hudson said. "People can call in their order and pick it up at the front counter." A drive-through window is planned later for customers who want to pick up orders.
Although the big attraction is the food, CK's Buffet also has a 126-inch television screen in the dining area.
"We will feature football, basketball and baseball games on our big television screen as well as other events. We may even have old movies - whatever attracts customers," said Angi Hudson. "We named the restaurant CK's Buffet after our two children who work here, Cody, our son, and Kiley, our daughter."