OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Site plans have been submitted for a 2,532-square-foot Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen along Bennett Road in Dunkirk. The site is next to the plaza that contains the Dunkirk Multiplex.

A “Louisiana Kitchen” is looking to open in Dunkirk. Site plans have been submitted for a 2,532-square-foot Popeyes restaurant to be constructed along Bennett Road next door to the Dunkirk Multiplex plaza.

Brett Steenburgh, an engineer working on behalf of Liberty Restaurants, submitted paperwork in February to the town of Dunkirk Planning Board regarding the proposed Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Site plans were reviewed by town Planning Board members in March, and the project also was included in the zoning referral log of the Chautauqua County Planning Board.

Bellrose, New York-based Liberty Restaurants is involved in a handful of Popeyes restaurants that have been constructed or proposed across New York.

Contacted this week, Steenburgh confirmed “plans are moving forward” for a Popeyes restaurant to be built in Dunkirk. An email sent to Laddi Singh, owner of Liberty Restaurants Holdings, was not immediately returned.

It’s not yet clear when Liberty Restaurants hopes to begin construction.

As noted in the description of the project, the company is looking to build a new restaurant with a double drive through on a vacant, half-acre parcel at 10518 Bennett Road. The land once was occupied by a convenience store with a curb cut on Bennett and is zoned for commercial use.

The town Planning Board is scheduled to meet at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, at the Town Hall to review Steenburgh’s site plans. Planning board members are then scheduled to hold a workshop at the Town Hall, 4737 Willow Road, Dunkirk.

Locally, the nearest Popeyes restaurant in New York is more than an hour away near Blasdell. There’s a location in Erie, Pa., that closed temporarily in July of last year but was scheduled to reopen under new management, the Erie Times News reported.

Singh is a franchisee of Popeyes, Burger King and Arby’s.

“I like to go into the restaurants and feel proud,” Singh told the Franchise Times, a business publication, in July 2021.

“We’re in the restaurants. We’re not investors, we’re owner-operators,” he added. “It makes a difference when you show your face.”

According to the Franchise Times, Singh in 2016 opened his first Popeyes location in East Harlem.