A chicken chain that recently opened a satellite office in Atlanta's trendy West Midtown now has a new CEO. Krispy Krunchy Chicken, the largest chicken chain you've never heard of, Tuesday named industry veteran Jim Norberg as its new CEO with outgoing CEO Dan Shapiro remaining with the company as its Chairman of the Board of Directors.
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| Jim Norberg with scissors, Dan Shapiro to his left |
Jim Norberg joined Krispy Krunchy Foods, LLC as its COO in March 2022. Norberg held that role for one year before being named the company's President this past March.
Norberg, a more than three decade veteran of McDonald's, relocated to metro Atlanta in July 2019 when he was named Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Papa John's, which itself had relocated its headquarters to The Battery Atlanta from Louisville.
Established in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1989 and with a menu centered on mildly Cajun-spiced fried chicken and all-white meat tenders, Krispy Krunchy Chicken operates only a handful of freestanding locations but has become the de facto choice for convenience store operators. In total there are about 2,900 locations nationwide, the overwhelming majority of which are located with convenience stores. By comparison, Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A operates more than 3,000 restaurants but traces its roots to 1946.
Whereas Chick-fil-A is an owner/operator business, with local owners operating local stores on behalf of the company, Krispy Krunchy Chicken is a licensing business where operators pay the company licensing fees to utilize the brand's logo, marketing, and other proprietary products. This difference has enabled the company to grow exponentially with 481 units having opened in 2023.
In addition to convenience stores - Krispy Krunchy Chicken was wildly popular at the NACS Show in Atlanta this past fall - the company is also expanding into both supermarkets and large format retailers. The company opened its first unit within a Walmart in Phoenix in 2022 and currently has about ten locations open within Walmart stores with at least one more planned for an existing store in Cape Coral, Florida. In several cases, Krispy Krunchy Chicken has been brought in to backfill space left by other brands like Subway.
ToNeTo Atlanta attended the ribbon cutting of the new Atlanta office (1000 Marietta Street) in January at which time we were able to speak with both Shapiro and Norberg. When asked if the new Atlanta office was a "corporate relocation," Shapiro said no - that they just found metro Atlanta to be a good hub to both attract new talent and maintain an operations center. Many of the company's employees work remotely and while the existing office in Alexandria, Louisiana will remain open, the new Atlanta office houses team members from across the organization in IT, HR, finance, marketing, sales, and operations.
According to the Krispy Krunchy Chicken website, the company has several dozen locations in the greater metro Atlanta area including those in Atlanta, Doraville, Marietta, Smyrna, Austell, Duluth, Lithonia, Lithia Springs, Acworth, College Park and East Point, among others.
Have you ever heard of Krispy Krunchy Chicken? Have you ever tried Krispy Krunchy Chicken? Who do you think makes the best fried chicken?
Please share your thoughts below.
11 comments:
Full disclosure -- I do run Marketing for Krispy Krunchy Chicken but I can tell you our chicken and tenders are the best this Atlantan has ever had in her life. Our chicken is marinaded in a proprietary blend of mild Cajun spices, then hand-breaded in our stores so that it's made fresh and delivers on that krispy-then-juicy bite! (I may be biased, but I'm not wrong!)
What kind of controls are in place to make sure the quality is carried out across all locations. Most convenience stores are staffed by only one or two people (except QT and Racetrac and the like). How do you know they are maintaining freshness, high standards of quality, etc?
I will try if they don’t load up on MSG like the CFA chicken products have. It’s an addictive chemical that should be unnecessary but probably is largely responsible for the repeat business.
MSG is actually naturally occurring, and has less sodium than table salt. Most people use it for the umami flavor it provides.
Amazing that so many people take issue with MSG. There's literally nothing pointing to it being harmful. Almost impressive how long this urban legend has persisted.
Yes, MSG is an "addictive chemical" just like salt or sugar, it was the subject of several tests that were improperly done (due to a panic that was partially motivated by racism), the tests proved nothing, and it has always been on the FDA's "not considered to be harmful" list, you can consume it all you want and you'll be fine. I have a shaker of it at home and have never developed "Chinese food syndrome"
Loved the Myth Busters episode when they tested MSG dishes on a group of unsuspecting people who claimed to be allergic to MSG.
I see someone wrote that msg has less sodium than salt. However, it nevertheless does have a good amount of sodium. I think the issue people have with MSG and salt is that more than like 1500 mg a day will raise your blood pressure dangerously, especially if you are being treated For high blood pressure. so yes consuming the chemical itself is not dangerous however, more than just a little bit can raise your blood pressure if you have high blood pressure. Connecting the dots everybody knows that uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to a heart attack.
Exactly! Nothing wrong, in fact, it evokes the umami sense!
Enough with the MSG posts. Seriously. Get a life.
Then don’t eat it. Leave everyone else alone who wants it.
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