Rock Hill is getting its own outpost of the fast-growing chicken tender chain Huey Magoo’s, with a restaurant slated to open by spring 2027 as the debut location in a six-store deal spanning Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Columbia. The franchise group behind the project includes two childhood friends and Marine Corps veterans who say Rock Hill was their first choice for the brand’s first restaurant in the area.
Franchisees Grant McDowell and Jeremy Press, who attended middle school and high school together before both serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, partnered to develop the six Huey Magoo’s locations, according to The Post and Courier. Press said the group considered a number of brands while searching for a franchise before landing on Huey Magoo’s, and he said he and McDowell were impressed by the company’s corporate leadership team and its quality standards. The pair tried the Greenville location together, and Press said all three partners loved it.
McDowell told the paper that Rock Hill is ideally located in Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers territory, a pitch that lines up with the city’s broader momentum. Rock Hill is South Carolina’s fifth-most populous city, with an estimated 2026 population topping 76,000 residents, and it landed at #5 on U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-2026 list of Best Places to Live in South Carolina. The city sits within the Charlotte metro sphere and its job market is projected to grow 7% thanks to manufacturing and technology investment, per that same ranking.
A Franchise Team With Deep Local Ties
Rounding out the ownership group is Jason Twitty, who brings more than 20 years of retail and food service experience and will serve as operating partner. Press regularly attends youth fastpitch softball tournaments in York County, a detail that speaks to the group’s local roots even as they build out a multi-state franchise footprint. The group’s plans extend beyond Rock Hill: Huey Magoo’s also intends to open a location near the University of South Carolina in Columbia as part of the same six-store push into Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Columbia…