Photo courtesy of Eugene’s Hot Chicken.
Zebbie Carney, founder of Eugene’s Hot Chicken
Zebbie Carney, founder of Eugene’s Hot Chicken, launched the concept as a food truck in Hoover in 2016 after walking away from a six-figure executive chef position at J. Alexander’s. He spent eight months perfecting a from-scratch hot chicken recipe before opening what has since grown into a three-location operation with restaurants in Hoover, Birmingham and Montgomery.
On any given day at Eugene’s Hot Chicken in Hoover, the line forms with a certain expectation.
Some come chasing heat. Others come for the hype. But what they get, according to founder Zebbie Carney, is something deeper than spice.
“We bring more than just heat,” Carney said. “We bring flavor.”
Carney is the owner and visionary behind Eugene’s, a fast-growing hot chicken concept with roots in East Nashville — the birthplace of Nashville-style hot chicken. Long before the Hoover location became a local staple, Carney was a chef working in the area, quietly building his dream during late nights at the Hoover Public Library.
“I always wanted my own restaurant,” he said. “Hot chicken was becoming popular, and I started working on the concept after work.”
The name carries personal weight. Eugene was his father’s middle name. When Carney was 16 years old — the same age he started working as a dishwasher in a Nashville restaurant — his father passed away. Naming the restaurant Eugene’s was a way to honor him.
Carney’s path into the food industry wasn’t accidental. He climbed quickly from dishwasher to line cook at that Nashville restaurant, mentored by a chef who shaped his culinary foundation.
“That restaurant became my culinary school,” he said.
Though he earned a degree in business administration with a minor in real estate and urban development from Tennessee State University, and even stepped into real estate professionally, he never fully left restaurants behind.
The leap into ownership came unexpectedly. While Carney was serving as executive chef at J. Alexander’s in Hoover, a Jefferson County health inspector offered simple but life-changing advice: “You know enough to run your own place.” Not long after, in 2016, Carney walked away from a six-figure salary at J. Alexander’s. The timing was far from ideal — his wife, Rachel, was pregnant, and they had just moved into a new home — but he took the risk and launched Eugene’s as a food truck.
Perfecting the recipe took eight months. “Rachel told me she was tired of eating chicken,” he said, laughing.
The goal wasn’t just heat. Eugene’s hot chicken is made from scratch, layered with seasoning that builds complexity. “It’s not buffalo,” Carney explained. “The lowest level is a sweet heat. The highest level might punish you.”
Today, 10 years after the founding of Eugene’s Hot Chicken, there are three locations: the one near the Riverchase Galleria, one in Birmingham’s Uptown development and a newly opened location in Montgomery. Carney splits his week between kitchens, staff meetings and paperwork. Sundays are reserved for family when possible. He credits Rachel as being foundational to the business, along with his longtime mentor, Jason Crockrell, who first taught him to cook at 16.
Hoover holds special significance. It’s where the concept was born.
“When the opportunity came open, I jumped at it because I knew the market,” he said.
While he acknowledges challenges as a minority business owner in the area, he remains grateful for what they’ve built.
Beyond expansion across the Southeast, Carney’s vision is simple: “We want to take people back — to a grandmother’s table, to a meal that meant something. We want to stop time and take you back.”
Eugene’s Hot Chicken’s Hoover location is at 3232 Galleria Circle, Suite 101, in an outparcel shopping strip along John Hawkins Parkway. For more information or to see a menu, visit eugeneshotchicken.com or call 205-593-4695.
