LOS ANGELES -- Pioneer Chicken said Wednesday it has agreed to convert its 82 Southern California outlets into Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits restaurants and develop at least 82 more Popeyes over the next few years.
The deal is the first major franchise conversion by Atlanta-based America's Favorite Chicken Co., which was formed last November as a holding company for the Popeye's and Church's Fried Chicken chains.
America's Favorite Chicken, a unit of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, was created from the assets of Al Copeland Enterprises, which had been under federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
'This gives Popeyes an immediate and significant penetration into Southern California, one of the nation's most important consumer markets,' said Jackson Moore, America's Favorite Chicken executive vice president of franchising and development. 'This agreement validates AFC's strategy of converting other chicken chains to effectively compete against the market leader for national market share.'
The conversion deal will give boost the number of Popeyes in Los Angeles from 17 to 96 and brings the total number of Popeyes system-wide to more than 900 restaurants.
The companies said the conversion process will take approximately six months and will involve both external and internal renovations.
'Pioneer Chicken is looking at this move as a fresh start and an opportunity to grow with a well-known, well-operated international chicken chain,' said Rod Jarboe, president of Pioneer Chicken.
Jarboe is the head of United Franchise Owners, an entity of 64 franchisees and other shareholders which owns the 82 Pioneer outlets.
'Our company will experience substantial gain through this conversion to Popeyes, including the means to renovate all 82 of our restaurants, greater leverage in our purchasing power and efficiency in our advertising buys in the Los Angeles market,' Jarboe said.
America's Favorite Chicken is the world's second-largest quick- service chicken company after PepsiCo's Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Popeyes was founded in 1972 and operates 813 restaurants, 698 of which are franchised. It had 1992 sales of $580 million.
