Church's Chicken Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Church's Chicken™, a division of AFC Enterprises, Inc., celebrates its 50th anniversary this week in the city where it all began, San Antonio, Texas.

In 1952, Church's opened its first Restaurant across the street from the Alamo. Today, Church's Chicken is the third largest quick-service chicken restaurant in the world with sales reaching nearly $900 million in 2001. It operates over 1,500 restaurants in 27 states, Puerto Rico and eight foreign countries, with agreements signed in 2001 to open restaurants in South America, the Caribbean, the Netherlands Antilles and South Africa.

Positioned as the New Value Leader, Church's serves its customers meals with generous portions at reasonable prices. It showcases a menu of traditional favorites including Southern-style fried chicken and unique side items such as Church's Honey-Butter Biscuits™, fried okra and jalapeno peppers.

AFC Enterprises, Inc. is the franchisor and operator of 3,857 restaurants, bakeries and cafes in the United States, Puerto Rico and 33 other countries under the brand names Church's Chicken™, Popeyes® Chicken & Biscuits, Cinnabon®, Seattle's Best Coffee®, and Torrefazione Italia® Coffee. AFC's primary objective is to be the world's Franchisor of Choice® by offering investment opportunities in highly recognizable brands and exceptional franchisee support systems and services. AFC had system-wide sales of approximately $2.6 billion in 2001.