Pallookaville, Avondale Estates’ oddball gourmet corn dog restaurant, has new owners, but the restaurant’s celebrity founder, Jim Stacy, will remain involved with the company.

Decaturish has learned restaurateurs James Maggard and Jason Hylton, owners of the Matador Cantina in Oakhurst and the Local No. 7 and FiveSevenTwo in Tucker, have purchased the restaurant after Stacy put it up for sale last year.

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Hylton and Maggard also now own Pallookaville’s planned satellite location in Little 5 Points.

“They are good dudes,” Stacy said of the new owners. “They know what they’re doing. I was never supposed to be an operator. I was supposed to be an idea guy and a food guy.”

Under the new agreement, Stacy will be an employee of Maggard and Hylton.

Maggard told Decaturish that he and Hylton wanted Stacy to remain with the company.

“Pallookaville is not Pallookaville without Jim Stacy,” Maggard said.

He said that most of the changes to the restaurant under new ownership will occur behind the scenes.

“There’s a bunch of mechanical stuff that needed to be done in the kitchen,” Maggard said. “We’re going to change the seating and we’re updating some stuff. For the most part, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

He said he and Hylton want to “grow the brand” but said there currently aren’t any plans to open additional Pallookaville locations.

“The idea is to open up more satellite locations yes, but there’s no timeline for that yet,” Maggard said.

Stacy promised that the vibe of Pallookaville won’t chage.

“All the recipes, all the crazy stuff will still be me,” he said. “I just no longer will operate it.”

Pallookaville is closed this month for maintenance but the plan is to reopen in March.

Maggard said, “We’re trying to reopen ASAP, but it has got to be done right.”

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