After winning approval to build a new restaurant on Hatch Road in August, triggering a protest by Mayor Javier Lopez, Pollo Campero has abandoned plans to build in Ceres.

Julian Aguirre, the city’s Economic Development manager, said he received an email from the company informing him that plans to come in Ceres have been halted.

“They didn’t say why,” Aguirre noted.

However, the mayor’s cold shoulder may have caused the company to reconsider.

Pollo Campero is a Guatemalan version of a fried chicken restaurant and looking to expand to 250 locations by 2028. The Ceres Planning Commission unanimously approved a site plan to construct a 2,619-square-foot Pollo Campero restaurant at 1355 E. Hatch Road, next door to and west of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. The approval came after Lopez sent a representative on his behalf threatening to appeal their action because he felt that Hatch Road had too many chicken restaurants. Ceres Chamber of Commerce official Irene Ortiz spoke on behalf of the mayor, indicating that after an appeal, “there is a strong possibility that this establishment will not be able to open at this location.”

After hearing concerns if so many chicken eateries could survive and stay in business, Community Development Director Lea Simvoulakis with the city of Ceres defended the restaurant’s application, saying “if they’re choosing to locate a store here they probably have a pretty good idea that they’ll be successful.”