Piccadilly Restaurants’ first drive-thru location, in Kenner, La., served up a preview breakfast for the media and local business and community leaders last week. The Baton Rouge-based company calls the concept Piccadilly Express. The new restaurant is the first Piccadilly location in Kenner and a positive sign of economic progress in the New Orleans region.

Peter A. Mayer Public Relations coordinated the event, including the appearances and participation of local officials including Kenner Fire Chief John Hellmers and members of the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission.

Peter Mayer PR also arranged for Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz to attend the breakfast and present Piccadilly CFO Tom Sandeman with a city proclamation declaring Dec. 1, 2009, “Piccadilly Day” in Kenner.

During the commemorative ceremony, Piccadilly presented the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) with a $40,000 check. The money was raised through donations at Piccadilly locations earlier this year. Piccadilly is a corporate sponsor of JDRF.

WGNO-TV (New Orleans’ ABC affiliate) came out to celebrate and shared this spot with its viewers at 6:30 p.m. that evening. The event also garnered the attention of Craig Guillot, who wrote about the grand opening on his blog, neworleansonthecheap.com. In addition, WDSU’s (NBC affiliate) Lorin Gaudin tweeted about the new restaurant.

The new location at 3117 Loyola Dr. opened for business the next day.