NORMAN — Known for its signature, bone-in, spiral-sliced hams coated in a caramelized honey glaze, the Honey Baked Ham Company is preparing to expand to Fansville, aka the home of University of Oklahoma football, the city of Norman.
Whether the city’s new Dr. Pepper water tower significantly prompted the expansion remains unclear, but what is certain is the Honey Baked Ham Company believes OU Head Coach Brent Venables to be a Honey Baked Ham kind of guy.
That’s according to Eric Edwards, the company’s head of franchise development, who added that OU’s move to the Southeastern Conference two years ago also helped.
“What we’ve done is we stepped back and looked at the top markets in the country,” franchise development head Eric Edwards said, “and we started grading them through a bunch of different categories — how strong they were with families, whether they have a lot of other businesses in the area for catering, things of that nature.”
That grading led to a 10-city short list, featuring Norman, a couple of cities in California and Florida and a smattering across the rest of the country.
“You’ve got great families there,” Edwards said. “You’ve got really good businesses. You’ve also got a very business-friendly community as far as the city itself is very welcoming to newcomers.”
Edwards also said the city is very easy to work with regarding permitting and other planning concerns, something he said plays a big role in today’s markets.
Depicted above is a Honey Baked Ham Company boxed lunch, featuring its signature sandwich, The HoneyBaked, topped with Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, crispy onions, honey mustard, and sweet honey glaze on ciabatta bread. (Photo/The Honey Baked Ham Company)
“Norman is such a well-balanced, great market, and so it’s really become a very high priority for us,” Edwards said.
Inspired by how well the Honey Baked Ham Company is doing with Oklahoma’s rival, Texas, the restaurant chain plans to eventually expand more thoroughly into Oklahoma, but Norman is set to mark the first phase.
Though the Honey Baked Ham Company has yet to choose a precise location in Norman, Edwards said there are multiple locations that would work for them, a consideration that only improves the city in the restaurant’s eyes.
The Honey Baked Ham Company also has yet to select a franchisee, but the chain is looking to open a location in Norman by the 2027 holiday season, Edwards said.
The Honey Baked Ham Company, a restaurant chain with more than 400 year-round locations across 40 states, made its debut in the Oklahoma City metro in 1993, opening a permanent location at 6900 N May Ave. just southeast of Lake Hefner. Founded in Detroit in 1957 but now based in Alpharetta, Georgia, the chain offers a spread of lunch options, take-and-bakes and smoked meats, including ham, turkey, beef and pork.
During the holidays, the Honey Baked Ham Company operates two seasonal locations, one near Will Rogers International Airport and the other close to the University of Central Oklahoma. The chain also boasts a permanent location in Tulsa less than a mile north of Woodland Hills Mall.
