Sam's Chicken is a British

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

chain. It has more than 40 outlets, the majority of which are in west and north west London. It was founded in 1990 by

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n Sam Chandrasinghe, with the opening of its first restaurant in Wealdstone,

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

, north west London. Chandrasinghe had previously worked for

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

UK as deputy operations director. Sam's Chicken's food is produced with 100%

rapeseed oil Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, i ...

, with its London stores certified with the ‘Healthier Catering Commitment for London’. Their products are also halal certified. Sam's Chicken pioneered the two burgers for £2 deal, which was revolutionary at the time.

Cricketers' branch

In March 2012, England cricketer Ravi Bopara opened a new branch in Tooting. The branch is managed by Bopara's brother Etinder and first cousin Gurinder and Ravi is believed to be an investor. Also in 2012, Sam Chandrasinghe had approached England cricketer Kevin Pietersen to become the owner of a branch. In 2014, it was reported that Bopara now owned two branches of Sam's Chicken, Tooting and

East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a Major Centre. The population is 76,186. It was originally part of the Becontree Hun ...

"I remember when I was saying it when I was about 14 and I said to my mates that we're going to own a chicken shop one day because all we used to eat was chicken, so we wanted to sit and eat our own chicken without having to pay for it".

Controversy

In May 2009, the '' Evening Standard'' reported that 62 year old Sam Chandrasinghe said that his staff and shops had been targeted by

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

youth as part of a hate campaign due to his

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

background.

Health and safety

In March 2014, '' The Guardian'' reported on how food hygiene inspectors found a small windowless bedroom behind the busy kitchen of a Sam's branch in east London, and that combined with imported chicken pieces enabled chicken shops to offer low prices to keep poor consumers happy, even if local councils were not. In November 2013, Sam's Chicken were fined £1750 by

Ealing Council Ealing London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Ealing in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a number of l ...

for

fly-tipping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto l ...

of 35 rubbish sacks over seven nights, the shop owner had previously been fined in 2011.

Locations

Apart from its strongholds in west and north west London, there are other branches around London including: East Sheen, Tooting, Croydon, Mottingham, Woolwich,

, Tottenham,

Holloway A hollow way is a sunken lane. Holloway may refer to: People *Holloway (surname) *Holloway Halstead Frost (1889–1935), American World War I Navy officer Place names ;United Kingdom *Holloway, London, inner-city district in the London Borough of ...

North Finchley North Finchley is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Barnet, situated 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Charing Cross. North Finchley is centred on Tally Ho Corner, the junction of the roads to East Finchley, Church End, Friern Ba ...

Colindale Colindale is a district in the London Borough of Barnet; its main shopping street on the A5 forming the borough boundary with neighbouring Brent. Colindale is a suburban area, and in recent years has had many new apartments built. It's also th ...

, as well as Borehamwood and Watford. Outside London's orbital

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

, Sam's Chicken has branches in Luton, Birmingham, Wellingborough,

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, Southampton,

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

and Isle of Wight.

References

External links