Church's Chicken Succeeds from Full-Scale Digital Transformation

It has been nearly two years since Church's Chicken first embarked on a digital transformation focused on reaching new guests with digital media and creating loyalty with engaging experiences at every interaction. In that time frame, digital has been a key driver of the brand's positive sales and growth, with 2020 turning in impressive results from this key focus area. The popular QSR chicken brand saw a 540% increase in Order Ahead sales in 2020 compared to the previous year, third-party delivery sales increased by 77% in the same period, and web digital conversion rate reached 16%. Like much of Church's steady growth and success over the past five years, the secret lies in a strong spirit of innovation and a renewed ability to be quick and nimble in adapting to both challenges and opportunities.

"The digital success we are seeing now is because of plans and initiatives first put in place in 2019," shares Alan Magee, Vice President of Digital Marketing & Technology for Church's. "The industry has been shifting to...

Church's Chicken Reveals New 5-Year Strategic Plan

During the Conversation Tour held just weeks ago for Church's Chicken®, the brand came together with franchisees in various regions of the country to recap achievements for the past year and set the tone on the next five years. Strong communications and teamwork have been essential to Church's impressive upward trend since 2016. Now, the brand is looking to leverage the power of its franchise network to reach even higher benchmarks for 2021 through 2026.

"Every year has been better than the last for us – in sales and in average check – and that's in spite of a global pandemic and while we have been rolling out various operational changes and improvements. That success is 100% rooted in the determination and hard work we have put into...

Church's Chicken Unveils New Signature Texas Tenders

Church's Chicken announced the arrival of its newest boneless chicken category offering: Church's Texas Tenders. Starting Jan. 28, Church's new Texas Tenders will be a permanent menu item, meeting the growing demand for high-quality boneless chicken and on-the-go menu options following the successful launch of the Church's Chicken Sandwich in October 2020. The Texas Tenders are big and bold, taking inspiration from Church's home state of Texas, and are debuting in the Tenders 'N Shrimp meal, a limited-time combo offering available for Lent.

"The evolution of our tenders with the introduction of our new Texas Tenders gives our guests even more reasons to choose Church's," said Brian Gies, chief marketing officer for Church's. "With the new Texas Tenders 'N Shrimp meal, we're combining two menu items packed with...

Church's Chicken Taps Mitch Langston as New VP of Franchise Development for U.S. Operations

Following substantial success in growing and expanding on an international level, Church's Chicken, has promoted Mitch Langston to Vice President of Franchise Development for the U.S. The move was driven by Langston's leadership during the rebrand and franchise development efforts for the Church's international sister brands, Texas Chicken and Church's Texas Chicken, which took place across 25 countries.

Langston helped successfully launch one of the most comprehensive redesigns in the brands' histories – including new logo designs and iconography, new international restaurant design, menu, uniforms, packaging, new integrated marketing and...

Church's Chicken Reinvents Brand Standards Measurement

When Church's Chicken re-imagined its restaurant-level brand standards measurement program to comply with COVID-19 travel restrictions, the goal was simple – make sure restaurants keep a high level of quality and service, without in-person visits from regional management and field teams. In just 60 days, the Global OPS Services team transformed the 5+ hour in-person Operation Excellence Review (OER) into a streamlined, Remote OER visitation that can now be implemented remotely. This enhanced evaluation of a restaurant's operation provides operators a detailed action plan with specific recommendations on improving brand standards. Since these Virtual OERs are much shorter than the standard visit, the brand can now conduct more visits more frequently, allowing the Operations team in the domestic and international business to provide added support for their franchisees.

"COVID-19 has caused us to innovate in so many ways. We realized that we can't send our field teams to the restaurants like we've done for years – we had to figure out how to conduct our visits remotely. These virtual visitations allow the field team to measure the operations using our proprietary mobile app called...

Church's Chicken Debuts New Chicken Sandwich 

Church's Chicken announced the arrival of the new Church's Chicken Sandwich. The sandwich will be a permanent menu fixture, and features an all white meat chicken breast filet, hand-breaded with Church's proprietary home-style seasoning with a hint of buttermilk, and cooked to a golden crisp. Nestled between a toasted brioche bun – brushed with the brand's famous honey-butter for a bit of sweetness – and toasted, the Chicken Sandwich is topped off with crunchy pickles and a dollop of creamy mayo, creating an instant classic.

"We are experts in bone-in chicken, but the fan demand for that same level of quality and flavor in a boneless fried chicken sandwich from Church's was emphatic and persistent, so we...

Church's Chicken Rallies in Q2, Sets Sights on Continued Growth and Positive Momentum

Just six months ago, Church's Chicken turned in its best performance in ten years for comparable same-store sales, and made 2020 the launch date for the brand's five-year strategic plan. Then, like all restaurants and businesses, plans were set back due to COVID-19 and the brand enacted a refocused action plan in response. Overall, the COVID-19 sales challenges were only temporary for Church's, as it reports that domestic sales have returned to pre-pandemic positive trends the past two months.

"Without question, our ability to weather this crisis is due to our entire franchise community, corporate and restaurant team members coming together to quickly and effectively adapt to a changing market and continue to...