Cook Out Branches Out

Despite its low profile, the North Carolina-based quick-service chain is finding its reputation on social media is leading to long lines for newly opened locations. Cook Out opened its first unit in Fredericksburg, Va., last May to lines of customers wrapped around the building, and similar anticipation was palpable for the area’s second unit, slated to open last month in Massaponax. The privately owned chain, founded in 1989 in Greensboro, N.C, has more than 140 locations in Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.