Rouses Markets hatches its 1st drive-thru

Rouses Markets next week will open a new store in Houma, Louisiana, one that features the grocer’s first fried chicken drive-thru.

Rouses, which operates 63 stores across three states, said the 60,000-square-foot store on Martin Luther King Blvd. is slated to open next Wednesday.

It is the fourth store at or near this location in Houma and replaces the company’s “superstore,” which was built in 1989. It is also the site of the family’s first grocery store, Ciro’s, opened by Anthony J. Rouse, Sr. and Ciro de Marco in 1960, the grocer said.

“Ciro’s laid the foundation for our company today,” CEO Donny Rouse said in a statement. “It was a 7,000 square-foot store, with my grandfather, great uncle and only two other employees running the show. My father, Donald Rouse, joined the company when he was old enough, bagging groceries and rounding up carts out front.”

Rouses said the “most exciting highlight” of the new store is Houma da Chicken, a drive-thru that sells the grocer’s famed double-battered fried chicken made from a recipe that goes back three generations. It’s prepared fresh throughout the day.

“Everyone keeps asking me about the drive-thru,” Rouse said. “You never know who will be working the drive-thru window during our grand opening.”

The new store will employ about 200 workers.

In addition to the drive-thru, it will feature prepared foods such as sushi, poke bowls and a Mongolian grill; ready-to-heat and ready-to-eat options; a full-service butcher with a custom humidity- and temperature-controlled dry-aged beef locker; full-service bakery with fresh-popped popcorn and cotton candy; post office, full-service flora department; curbside pickup; extensive bourbon selection and the largest beer, wine and spirits selection in the city.

Rouses’ family has been in the grocery business for a century, launching City Produce when the family arrived in America from Sardinia, Rouse said. A big, green City Produce truck will be on display in the new store during the grand opening Wednesday.

The new supermarket also features a wall with vintage photos and advertising from Ciro’s and the early Rouses Markets stores.