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The Hattie B's Hot Chicken management team, pictured here outside the soon-to-open Birmingham location, is, from left, co-owner Nick Bishop Jr., Birmingham general manager Jordan Luckett, co-owner Nick Bishop Sr., and executive chef John Lasater. (Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)

Hattie B's Hot Chicken is about six weeks away from opening its first Birmingham location and the first outside of its home base of Nashville.

The Hattie B's management team was in Birmingham Thursday and today to check on the construction of the restaurant, which will be located at 2808 Seventh Ave. South in the 29 Seven development.

The restaurant should open by late May or early June, father-and-son co-owners Nick Bishop Sr. and Nick Bishop Jr. told AL.com today.

"We would like to get opened up at the end of May if we could," Nick Bishop Sr. said. "It could push into the first week of June."

Hattie B's plans to hire about 35 servers, cooks, prep cooks and expeditors and will host a job fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, through Thursday, April 21, in the Vulcan Conference Room of the Residence Inn Hotel at 821 20th St. South.

The Bishops opened the original Hattie B's in August 2012 in Nashville's Midtown area and later opened a second one in West Nashville.

After the Birmingham opening, they plan to open a fourth Hattie B's sometime next year in Nashville's Germantown community.

The Birmingham restaurant has about 3,000 square feet and will seat about 124 guests inside and out on the patio.

Jordan Luckett, who has been the general manager of the original Hattie B's in Nashville, is relocating to Birmingham to be the general manager here.

Nick Bishop Sr., who previously was an executive for the Morrison's Cafeterias chain, has two sisters who live in the Birmingham area, and he and his son also lived here for several years when Nick Jr. was a little boy.

"Birmingham is a great community," Nick Bishop Sr. said. "It's kind of like coming home for us. . . . Our time in Birmingham was very special, and we still have a lot of great friends here."

John Lasater, who studied at the French Culinary Institute in New York City and previously worked at Nashville's Capitol Grille, is the executive chef for the Hattie B's brand.

Hattie B's is renowned for its very spicy fried chicken, which is served with increasing levels of heat, including "hot," "damn hot" and "shut the cluck up!!!" The food and dining website The Daily Meal recently ranked Hattie B's No. 6 on its list of America's 75 Best Fried Chicken Spots.

To find out more about Hattie B's, go here.