Does Captain D's have nugget ice?

What we found

• Aliworld is the customer magazine of Ali Group, which owns ice-machine maker Ice-O-Matic. Its January 2017 issue (Issue 5, pp. 52–53) ran a success story on Captain D's that says: "To produce the best chewable ice, Captain D's selected the Ice-O-Matic GEM0650 nugget ice machine and B100 storage bin." It describes one machine in the back of the house for drive-thru and carryout and another at the front-of-house beverage station, and quotes Larry Jones, then Captain D's Vice President, Operations Integration: "Certainly within the Southeast, chewable ice is preferable to cubed ice."
• That story comes from the equipment maker's own magazine, not from Captain D's, and it's from 2017, when the magazine said Captain D's had 513 locations in 21 states. Captain D's website (home, menu, FAQ, Our Story and media pages, checked October 8, 2026) doesn't say what kind of ice it uses, and we found no current company statement. Equipment can change, so not every store is individually confirmed.
• Pins are OpenStreetMap restaurants tagged as Captain D's in the United States, not a copy of the store locator; objects mapped twice within 150 meters count once, and a store tagged as closed is left out. On October 8, 2026 this snapshot has 424 OpenStreetMap pins in 22 states (Georgia 85, Alabama 70, Tennessee 49, Kentucky 33, Mississippi 22, South Carolina and Virginia 20 each, North Carolina 19, Florida 17, and fewer in 13 other states). Two hundred seventeen pins have a street that starts with a house number, one has a street with no house number, and 206 have no street in OpenStreetMap; no house number was guessed. Captain D's media page says it has grown to over 500 restaurants (checked October 8, 2026), so some locations are not pinned yet. If yours isn't pinned, add it. If a pinned location doesn't have nugget ice, vote "no longer has it."

424 Captain D's locations on the map

Locations from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL). They're widely reported listings, not individually confirmed — the only source is a January 2017 story in Aliworld, the magazine of ice-machine maker Ice-O-Matic's parent Ali Group, which says Captain D's chose an Ice-O-Matic nugget ice machine for its chewable ice. Captain D's own website doesn't say what ice it uses, and these pins are not every location. Pins are OpenStreetMap only, which is missing some of its 500+ restaurants, so if yours isn't pinned, add it. If one is closed or its machine is out, vote “no longer has it.”

Cities with the most Captain D's locations

By state

Sources

1. Ice-O-Matic Gets an "A" from Captain D's (Aliworld, Issue 5, January 2017, pp. 52–53)

   Ali Group (Aliworld magazine) / Ice-O-Matic · 2017-01 · Equipment-maker case study

   "Certainly within the Southeast, chewable ice is preferable to cubed ice," says Jones. To produce the best chewable ice, Captain D's selected the Ice-O-Matic GEM0650 nugget ice machine and B100 storage bin.

2. Captain D's media kits page (background: store count; not about ice)

   Captain D's · 2026-10-08 · Company source

   this focus on serving quality seafood in a warm and inviting atmosphere has helped us grow to over 500 restaurants since 1969.

Menus and equipment change, so call ahead if you're making a special trip.