Let’s wax nostalgic about Church’s Chicken. Who remembers the wings with a drum that had more white meat than the breast? All you had to do was look at the concave side of the breast to know where that meat came from. Did your local Church’s Chicken have a “Two-piece Tuesday,” where you could get two pieces of chicken and a roll for less than a dollar? Maybe you lived in a city that had a hybrid Church’s Chicken and White Castle, where you could get a double-cheese slider to nosh on until you got that chicken home. (The car smelled like grilled onions and chicken grease.) And there are many of us who have suffered through a long Church’s drive-thru line after church, especially in the summer ‘cause nobody was trying to cook anything beyond the greens and potato salad prepared the day before.
We know that entire social media threads – from Reddit to TikTok to Instagram and Facebook – are devoted to Church’s Chicken. The debates are ongoing and often recycled from years past. Popeyes or Church’s? Original or spicy? Buttered corn kernels or corn-on-the-cob? The questions and complaints are epic: The sweet tea is either too sweet or not sweet enough. What happened to the corn fritters? When did they change the name? When’s the smokehouse chicken coming back? Church’s is the poor man’s Popeye’s!
And the shenanigans are entertaining such as the most recent viral video of a woman boxing her own order after waiting too long.
Before you create your own discussions and debates about Church’s, here are a few bits of interesting information about the chicken chain:
- Church’s first name in 1952 was Church’s Fried Chicken-To-Go. For forty-nine cents, you got two pieces of chicken and a roll. They fried to order.
- Church’s first location was in San Antonio, Texas.
- Church’s is now known as Church’s Texas Chicken and internationally it is known as Texas Chicken.
- Their motto used to be “Big pieces. Little prices.” (Explains those wings.)
- In the late 1970s, Church’s advertised for managers and franchisees in Ebony magazine.
- Alex Glover was the first African American to go from management to ownership of a Church’s franchise.
- Rosetta Harris of Gulfport, Mississippi was the first African American woman to own a franchise.
- In the mid-1980s, Earle Horton and Arnold Whitmore formed a group of Black investors to purchase 25 Church’s Chicken restaurants in northeast Ohio.
- The late baseball player Hank Aaron was a Church’s (and Popeye’s) franchisee.
- In the 1980s, Church’s had their own chicken nuggets in original and spicy as well as a chicken sandwich made from dark meat; it was called the “Big Sandwich.”
- Actress LaWanda Page (Aunt Esther, Sanford and Son) was a Church’s spokesperson from the early 80s to the late 1990s. (Kirk Franklin & The Family had an ad too.)
- For a brief period of time, Church’s and Popeye’s were owned by the same person/parent company.
- Kevin Houston, Head Chef at Church’s Texas Chicken is an African American.
Interestingly, in an article about Church’s, the former CEO Joe Guith said, “George Church envisioned serving the underserved the best chicken at the best value.” This is not a Church’s promotion but we have to admit that the company has done what the founder envisioned for over 60 years since the brand went national, especially that “best value” part.
Fan favorite or not, Church’s Chicken has been a staple and memory in Black communities Down and Up South for decades. Truth is, Church’s is like the cousin or mystery relative who shows up for repasts and such, yet we know so little about the person or how the relationship began. All we know is that they’re always there.
Robin Caldwell
Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and academic researcher focusing on Black history, heritage and culture. Public historian primarily in Black American historical foodways: antebellum and regional.
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Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and academic researcher focusing on Black history, heritage and culture. Public historian primarily in Black American historical foodways: antebellum and regional.
