Kenny Rogers Roasters is a chain of chicken-based restaurants founded in 1991 by

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

musician

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

and former

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

CEO John Y. Brown Jr., who was a former governor of the U.S. state of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Brown had been an early investor in

Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's s ...

from 1964 to 1971. During his successful music career, Rogers had appeared in several commercials for the

Dole Food Company Dole plc (previously named Dole Food Company and Standard Fruit Company) is an Irish- American agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables ...

before founding this restaurant chain. The menu of Kenny Rogers Roasters originally featured wood-fired

rotisserie Rotisserie, also known as spit-roasting, is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit – a long, solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This meth ...

chicken. After closing all of its U.S. operations and a series of ownership changes, Kenny Rogers Roasters operates principally in Asia as part of Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Corporation Berhad. The Kenny Rogers Roasters brand is owned by Kenny Rogers Roasters International Corporation, a subsidiary of Roasters Asia Pacific (Cayman) Limited which itself is owned by Berjaya Corporation Berhad.

History

John Y. Brown Jr., a business entrepreneur from the commonwealth of

had worked with the restaurant chains

and Lum's. After having served as

governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; sinc ...

from 1979 to 1983, Brown decided to return to the restaurant business. He chose to start a chicken restaurant in

Coral Springs, Florida Coral Springs is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 134,394. Approximately northwest of Fort Lauderdale, it is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area in South ...

, in 1991, forming a partnership with country music singer

who had previously released his own cook book. The first store opened in September 1991, and Rogers himself was present at the opening. Kenny Rogers Roasters was one of several restaurants to open in southern Florida that year, owing to the popularity of grilled chicken both in that particular market and nationwide. By 1995, the menu had expanded to include turkey, ribs, and various side dishes. The chain eventually grew to over 350 restaurants, including locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Kenny Rogers Roasters found itself in competition with Boston Chicken (later

Boston Market Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Newtown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Newtown Township, Pennsylvania. Since 2020, it has been owned by Engage Bra ...

) and several smaller roasted chicken chains.Stouffer, "A High Stakes Game of Chicken" Kentucky Fried Chicken also introduced a roasted chicken line of products called Rotisserie Gold to compete with Roasters and Boston Chicken. In December 1992, Clucker's, a minor player in the roasted chicken market, sued Kenny Rogers Roasters, claiming the chain had copied its recipes and menus.Seline, "Clucker's is First Casualty in Chicken Wars" The lawsuit continued until Kenny Rogers Roasters purchased a majority stake in Cluckers in August 1994. Brown expanded the company to a chain of more than 425 restaurants before selling his interest in the franchise to the

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

-based

Berjaya Group Berjaya Corporation Berhad (; formerly known as Berjaya Group Berhad, Inter-Pacific Industrial Group Berhad and Raleigh Berhad) is a Malaysian-based corporation which controls a wide array of businesses, including consumer marketing, Real estate ...

in 1996. In 1994, two restaurants were opened in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. However, both were closed only a couple of years later. In 1996, the chain announced plans to open in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and purchased locations in various cities. At this point, annual sales topped $300 million. However, the planned restaurants in Britain never materialized. Kennyrogersroasters saginaw

The company entered

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

in March 1998 and was bought by Nathan's Famous, Inc. for $1.25 million (US$ million in more recent terms) on April 1, 1999; as a result of restructuring, many locations closed. Rotisserie-roasted chicken had become commonplace in many food supermarkets. By 2000, the chain was down to 90 franchised restaurants, 40 of those in the U.S. Nathan's Famous divested itself of Kenny Rogers Roasters in 2008, selling it to their Asian franchisee, Roasters Asia Pacific (Cayman) Limited, a company which is owned by

of Malaysia. The last Kenny Rogers Roasters operating in North America was located in the Ontario Mills mall in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...

and closed on December 31, 2011. The 2008 purchase agreement allowed for Nathan's Famous and Miami Subs to continue selling Kenny Rogers Roasters items in their restaurants. Nathan's continues to serve Kenny Rogers Roasters items in select locations, such as its flagship location on

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

. Miami Subs (since sold off by Nathan's) no longer has a "Kenny Rogers" section on their menu. Despite the chain's end in the United States, Kenny Rogers Roasters continues to flourish in Asia under the ownership of Berjaya Group. An article published by Time.com in 2011 reported that Kenny Rogers Roasters had grown to almost 140 restaurants across Asia, with continued expansion in Malaysia, the Philippines, and more recently southern China. In Malaysia, the Kenny Rogers Roasters chain of restaurants is developed and operated by Berjaya Roasters (M) Sdn Bhd. Under a corporate exercise by Berjaya Corporation Berhad in 2011, Berjaya Roasters (M) Sdn Bhd became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berjaya Food Berhad. In March 2011, Berjaya Food Berhad listed on the Main Board of

Bursa Malaysia Bursa Malaysia (English: Malaysian Bourses or Malaysia Exchange) is the stock exchange in Malaysia. It is one of the largest bourses in ASEAN. It is based in Kuala Lumpur and was previously known as the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). It p ...

. Effectively, Berjaya Food Berhad is responsible for establishing, operating, and expanding Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurants in Malaysia. This includes developing the Kenny Rogers Roasters brand, managing menu items, and acting as a central procurement agent for Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurants across Malaysia.

Restaurant concept and menu

As a brand, Kenny Rogers Roasters advocates healthy eating as reflected in its brand tag line "less fat...less salt...less calories".

Number of restaurants and countries of operation

In its 2012 Annual Report, Berjaya Corporation Berhad reported that as of April 30, 2012, Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurants numbered 74 in Malaysia and 8 in Indonesia. It was also mentioned that Roasters Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) Limited has operations in other countries including the United States,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. In addition, Roasters Asia Pacific has been undergoing expansion in other international territories including India and the Middle East. Kenny Rogers Roasters opened its first outlet in

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

in January 2013. The second Brunei outlet was opened at Tanjung Bunut in June 2015. In December 2016, the first KRR opened in Thailand in the Laguna area of

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

. There are currently plans to open other restaurants within Phuket and then into other parts of Thailand as well. In February 2023, Kenny Rogers Roasters opened its first flagship restaurant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the Salah Al Din locality. In mid-2023, Kenny Rogers Roasters expanded to Deira City Centre.

In popular culture

Kenny Rogers Roasters is the center of the episode of ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'', " The Chicken Roaster". After a branch opens in the neighborhood, Kramer cannot sleep due to its neon sign shining through his window, so he hangs up a banner to drive it out of business. The branch shuts down at the end of the episode when Jerry unintentionally sabotages it with a soaked rat hat. The story was inspired by a real-life confrontation between a New York City branch of Kenny Rogers Roasters and a neighboring law office.

External links

References