Church's Chicken
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Church's Chicken is a U.S. chain of fast food restaurants specializing in fried chicken. The chain was founded as Church's Fried Chicken To Go by George W. Church, Sr. on April 17, 1952 in San Antonio, across the street from The Alamo. The company now has more than 1,500 locations worldwide.
Initially the restaurant only sold chicken but french fries and jalapeños were later added. The company had four restuarants when George W. Church died in 1956. Following George Sr.s death, his son George W. Church Jr. took control of the company. By 1962 his family had expanded the company to eight restaurants.
In some areas it is co-franchised with the White Castle hamburger chain. In Canada, Church's Chicken items were once available in Harvey's restaurants, but the co-venture was discontinued. Currently, Church's Chicken has locations in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Other international operations include a very successful franchise in Puerto Rico. There are over 70 restaurants, making it one the top three largest chains on the island.
[edit] Merger with Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits
Church's became the second-largest chicken restaurant chain in 1989, when it merged with Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits. The company continued to operate both restaurants as separate chains. Church's was owned by AFC Enterprises, along with Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Cinnabon through the end of 2004, when it was sold to Arcapita (formerly Crescent Capital Investments). Because Arcapita is an Islamic venture capital firm, bacon was removed from the menu after the sale (pork not being halal). Hala Moddelmog was appointed as president of Church's Chicken in 1996, making her the first female president of a fast-food restaurant. Church's Chicken began its corporate partnership with the Children's Miracle Network in the summer of 2004.
