Statesboro’s former Jaman Cafe on South Main Street is due to open as El Jalapeno within the next two weeks.

“They’re called El Jalapeno and they’ve just recently joined our club,” President of Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce,Phyllis Thompson, said. “The restaurant will be opening late September.”

Owner of the El Jalapeno restaurant, Luis Gomez, has been in the food service industry for 30 years and owns a plethora of various Mexican restaurants in Georgia.

“Statesboro was chosen because it has the university and a very steady economy,” Gomez said. “The closest [El Jalapeno] we have is in Americus.”

El Jalapeno will hire locally and begin training staff during the last week of September, Gomez said.

“The venue already has the structure of a Mexican restaurant. We’re remodeling inside and fixing it up to be real pretty,” Gomez said.

Even with the slew of Mexican, “Tex-Mex” and Southwestern restaurants available in Bulloch County, Gomez is sure that El Jalapeno has exclusively appealing menu items for its future customers.

“Our chips, salsa and our guacamole are some of the best things we’ve got. We have plenty of authentic Mexican meals as well as more ‘Tex-Mex’ foods for people to enjoy,” Gomez said.

El Jalapeno will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Gomez said, “I like to deal with people, we are a very family and community-oriented restaurant.”