In 1952, retired chicken incubator salesman
George W. Church Sr. opened the first Church's Chicken, named Church's Fried Chicken To-Go, in
San Antonio, Texas. Initially, Church's Chicken was a single walk-up establishment that only sold fried chicken.
Early expansion, franchising and sale The company had four restaurants by the time of Church Sr.'s death in 1956. joined Church's Chicken in 1965 to oversee the franchising. In 1967, the chain opened restaurants in five Texan cities outside of San Antonio and operated 17 restaurants in 1968. In 1968, the Church family sold the company, which became incorporated and went
public in 1969. In the late 1970s, the chain briefly operated a
hamburger franchise in Texas called G.W. Jrs. The roughly 60 locations were shuttered in 1985.
Global and national expansion Church's Chicken began its international expansion in the 1970s, in
Canada,
Mexico,
Japan, and
Puerto Rico. In the 1980s, it gained popularity in
Indonesia when it opened under the trade name, "Texas Chicken". The first reason of changing the name to "Texas" is because the brand name "Church" was not popular in countries with majority non-Christian religions,
such as Indonesia. Afterwards, locations in Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, and the Philippines were also opened under the trade name "Texas Chicken". In February 2008, Church's Chicken entered the UK market under the "Texas Chicken" name, claiming to have signed up 50 former
Dixy Chicken franchisees. Only a small number of restaurants opened, with one in High Road Leytonstone, London, and another in
Salford, Greater Manchester. They withdrew from the UK a few years later. In 2017, Church's Chicken announced a multi-year development deal with Goalz Restaurant Group, LLC to develop 20 Church's Chicken restaurants each year in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina and South Carolina. In 2022, Church's Texas Chicken operated more than 1,500 locations worldwide. Oman, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, St. Lucia, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Vietnam. However, Church's Texas Chicken's operation in Thailand, which is operated under license by PTT OR (PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited) as Texas Chicken was discontinued on 30 September 2024 as it was announced in their official Facebook page after 9 years of its operation. As of 30 September 2024, PTT OR operates 97 Texas Chicken locations nationwide in Thailand.
Acquisitions In 1989, after a four-month legal dispute to avoid a takeover, Church's Chicken became the second-largest chicken restaurant chain when it was acquired by
Popeyes for $330 million. The acquisition court documents stated that Church's Chicken would close 250 of its restaurants, "keep 92 with the Church's name, rename 303 others as Popeyes and sell 440 others for about $160 million over the next four years". In 2005, because Arcapita invests in companies that respect
Shari'ah principles, it removed pork products from the Church's Chicken menu. In 2007, AFC Enterprises, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Church's Chicken and former franchise group CVI Company, for allegedly colluding to breach Popeyes' franchise, development and guaranty agreements with CVI, when "Church's [Chicken] bought all 10 of CVI's Popeyes' restaurants and converted most of them to the Church's Chicken brand". In August 2009,
San Francisco private equity firm
Friedman Fleischer & Lowe bought Church's Chicken from Arcapita, for an estimated value of $390 million. In June 2019, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe placed the company up for sale, after years of declining sales and store counts. In August 2021, Church's Chicken was acquired by High Bluff-backed Rego Restaurant Group, the owners of
Quiznos and
Taco del Mar.
Co-franchising By the mid-to late-1990s, Church's Chicken and
hamburger chain
White Castle announced their co-franchise, in which both companies would sell their own separate products, while operating in some shared restaurant spaces, with some shared personnel. In
Canada, Church's Chicken items were once available in
Harvey's restaurants, but the co-venture was discontinued. File:texastbilisi.jpg|Texas Chicken in
Tbilisi,
Georgia. Image:Church's Chicken restaurant Detroit Michigan.JPG|A Church's Texas Chicken in
Detroit Image:Church's Chicken restaurant Saskatoon.JPG|A Church's Texas Chicken in
Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan,
Canada ==Products==