History
The current Chicken Delight operation is a descendant of a much larger chain. Founded in Illinois in 1952, the chain grew during the 1960s to over 1,000 locations. [3] It was purchased in 1964 by Consolidated Foods. The jingle "Don't cook tonight, call Chicken Delight," emphasizing their delivery and take-out services, was widely advertised on American radio and television during the 1960s. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the chain's mascot was a chicken with a chef's hat, holding a plate of biscuits. [4]
By the late 1960s, Chicken Delight in the US was a troubled operation. While emerging chains like McDonald's ensured that all outlets provided a product that met the franchisor's strict standards, the quality control of Chicken Delight outlets was lax. The company was thus fighting the battle with people who, having had a bad experience in one outlet, generalized that to the entire chain, then told their friends to stay away. [5]
Chicken Delight was simultaneously under increasing pressure from fast-growing competitor Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Although Chicken Delight and KFC were founded the same year, and Chicken Delight had initially expanded far more quickly, KFC was beginning to enter and gaining popularity in many markets. The competition became particularly strong in 1972 when KFC added new "Extra-Crispy" chicken to their menu with a taste and texture similar to Chicken Delight's product. [5] During the early 1970s, legal actions resulted in a substantial reduction in the Chicken Delight chain.
In 1979, Otto Koch, owner of the successful Chicken Delight Canada Ltd., purchased the remnants of the American Chicken Delight operations. Then, in 2012, James and Nadine Cartman took over the Chicken Delight Group of Companies. Later, in August 2023, Tushar Sukhadiya and Dipak Koladiya became the new owners.
In 2023, Tushar Sukhadiya became President of Chicken Delight of Canada Ltd when he acquired the group of companies with his family friend Dipak. Tushar studied Mechanical Engineering in 2015 and studied Mechanical design courses such as AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventory and SolidWorks in 2017. Tushar moved to New Zealand in 2018 to complete a one-year graduate diploma in Mechatronics (Robotics). He immediately joined Lime E-scooter Company for one and a half years as a mechanic and was promoted to Mechanic In-charge and then to Regional Manager for Hamilton, NZ. In December 2020, Tushar moved to Canada to start working in the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy with Dipak as Marketing Manager. In the fall of 2021, Tushar began managing restaurants in Alberta.
In 2023, Dipak Koladiya became Secretary and a director of Chicken Delight of Canada Ltd when he acquired the group of companies with his family friend Tushar. Dipak acquired the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Lethbridge in 2017. In 2018, Dipak purchased an existing franchise restaurant in Alberta. In 2019, Dipak purchased two existing Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy franchises in Surrey, British Columbia. Dipak moved to Surrey BC to oversee management of the two Surrey BC pharmacies.
Products
Chicken Delight serves chicken-based products such as chicken wings, buffalo wings, chicken fingers, and chicken burgers. The chain also offers pizza, popcorn shrimp, ribs, and a variety of side dishes including french fries, onion rings, poutine (mostly in Canadian locations), potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw. The only dessert product that Chicken Delight offers is cheesecake.
The chain also features Pizza and Chicken combos, and individual and family dinners. All the individual dinners come with sides of fries, coleslaw, and a bread roll. The family dinner comes with the same sides as the individual dinners, but gravy is added. The Pizza and Chicken combos consist of a pie and a range from 6-15 pieces of chicken, comes complete with fries and gravy as the sides.
Chicken Delight serves Pepsi products. They come in either cans, 2 liter bottles, or smaller 20 oz. bottles.
Legal cases
When Chicken Delight was founded, franchisers typically used one of two different methods for collecting revenue. One was to collect 4% to 8% of gross sales, as is typically done now. The other method was to require their franchisees to buy all their equipment and packaging from the franchisor. In the latter scheme Chicken Delight franchisees paid a little extra for each paper cup, each paper plate, the chicken-coating mix, etc., providing the franchisor with income for corporate operations, advertising, and profit. Some franchisees (and their legal representatives) believed this scheme ran afoul of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which requires that the franchisor not sell products above fair market value. In the 1960s a lawsuit was filed on behalf of 94 franchisees and, in 1971, the plaintiffs won a precedent-setting ruling from the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that broke the franchise contract for all stores and awarded damages to the plaintiffs. (Siegel v. Chicken Delight, 448 F.2d 43 (9th Cir. 1971); reversed in modern times by decisions such as Queen City Pizza v. Domino's Pizza, 124 F.3d 430 (1997).)
The lawsuit win proved to be a Pyrrhic victory because Consolidated Foods (Now Sara Lee Corporation), then-owner of Chicken Delight, abandoned the business in the US, leaving all its former US franchisees to fend for themselves. [3] [5] Today, some of the old US stores operate independently under names reminiscent of the original, such as "Chicken Tonight."
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