‘A dream 42 years in the making’: Ezell’s Famous Chicken owner eyes nationwide franchise

Nearly half a century after Ezell’s Famous Chicken established roots in Seattle, opening up shop across from Garfield High School in 1984, the beloved chicken joint’s owner has plans to make his lifelong dream of franchising nationwide.

Owner Lewis Rudd joined “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio to explain where the expansion stands and how the company’s high standards will be maintained after his impending retirement.

“What’s unfolding is a dream and a vision that began with two childhood friends back in East Texas working at a place called Browns fried chicken, and one day having our own chicken place,” Rudd said. “Here we are, 42 years later, with 17 units and a few 100 employees. We feel that we have built a structure that has the systems and standards that are scalable. So we’re just looking at opportunities right now.”

Rudd noted a previous expansion attempt for Ezell’s right before the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced a temporary pause on its growth. Now, years removed from the pandemic and where things have “normalized,” Rudd is poised to pick up the expansion where he left off years ago.

“We’ve always felt that we have a product that would survive in any new market that we went into. Right before the pandemic hit, we had begun expanding. We opened up our first unit in Oregon, then the pandemic hit, and it just kind of put a pause on the growth plan. Now that things have kind of normalized, we’re just looking at opportunities to grow. We’ve got some interest from different ones in the marketplace, there’s some potential partnerships available, and we’re back to looking forward again.”

Ezell’s has called Seattle home for 47 years, building a strong reputation on fresh fried chicken and the core values that have kept customers coming back. Rudd credited those values as the foundation of the company’s lasting success.

“We started out with a vision to build a world-class brand. We have a vision, a mission, and a value statement. We want to provide fresh, never frozen, so that’s one thing we’re not going to compromise. Fresh product, and good, homemade side dishes.” Rudd said. “It’s the value proposition, and that fast, courteous service, always putting our guests first,

“Then we have a value statement, three words: honesty, loyalty, and relationships,” Rudd continued. “It’s always going to be about open and honest communication, placing value on relationships, being great community partners, wherever we open up and explore opportunities to expand. We want to become great community partners and stores within those communities so that we cannot change those core values.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.