Harold's Chicken reopens in downtown Cedar Rapids

Harold's Chicken, the fried chicken restaurant chain from Chicago, has reopened in downtown Cedar Rapids.

The restaurant opened a permanent location Friday in the Roosevelt building, 200 First Ave. NE, according to a news release.

Gerald Seals, CEO of Harold's Chicken Iowa said that Friday night and the weekend would be a soft open of sorts, with trainees providing food for friends and family members as part of their training to ready them for the official opening on Monday.

"We wanted to be sure we had the right product for customers," Seals said. "We wanted to do a test run with employees and their families to assure the consistency."

Seals said that he wanted this extra training to make sure the team could handle the flow of customers, and so his employees at the First Avenue location could match the seasoned crews already manning Harold's locations in Iowa City and Waterloo.

It is the latest business to take a stab at occupying the hotel's first floor.

Work on Mod's Market, a new convenience store, is ongoing right next to Harold's.

Friday's opening also is the second time Harold's came to the Roosevelt. The restaurant first opened as a pop-up location in a space next to the former Jerseys restaurant. Both Jerseys and Harold's, though, were kicked out of the building after the owner of the Roosevelt claimed Jerseys stopped paying rent.

Claims against Harold's were dismissed.

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