So I was in the south recently. You'll have to wait a while to see all the malls I saw down there because I have a backlog that goes back over a year still. But I couldn't wait to share something that's a really big interest of mine: Maryland Fried Chicken! I got the chance to visit 2 that are still open today. Here's the story:
In the wake of the rise of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a lot of competitors cropped up looking to get in on the fun. One of the most up-and-coming rivals to KFC in the 60s to early 70s was Maryland Fried Chicken. Al Constantine, the son of Italian immigrants, invented his own fried chicken recipe after moving to Florida and encountering KFC for the first time. In 1961, "Maryland Fried Chicken" was first offered at the family's diner in Orlando, Constantine's Restaurant, with an iconic, 35-foot sign installed to advertise (as seen above). From there, the franchise grew all across the state of Florida.
In 1967, an ambitious Georgia businessman named J. R. Miller bought national franchising rights for Maryland Fried Chicken for $100,000, in order to help expand the business all around the United States. Miller inked deals to open dozens of franchises across 16 states over the next 3 years. In the picture above, you can see a MFC franchise built by a franchisee under J. R. Miller in 1969 in Winston-Salem, NC. It was one of the earliest franchises in the state, and sports both the classic huge sign as well as a distinctive building style shared by most MFC units built in 1968-1969, which was the height of the chain's growth. By 1971, 160 locations were operational from its home state of Florida all the way up to Rhode Island and as far out west as Austin, TX, and Denver, CO.
But not long after that, things started changing. The economy got worse. Some franchises started closing. Before too long, both Al Constantine and J. R. Miller left the company, and whatever was left of Maryland Fried Chicken, Incorporated at that point crashed and burned by the end of the decade. And yet, something amazing happened: dozens of franchises survived the fall of the company and simply continued doing business as independent, family-owned restaurants. Al Constantine, who still owned the trademark, never cracked down and stopped these remaining restaurants from using it. As a result, about 25 MFC's still do business today, all supplied by the same distributor they've had since 1975, like the one pictured above in Florence, SC.
That's where I come in. Pictured above is the former Maryland Fried Chicken in Bethlehem, PA, which I ate at countless times growing up. Built in 1968, it closed following a kitchen fire in 2011, and its sister location in Easton closed in 2014. They had been the last two MFC's in the northeast. You can see that the building style and sign frame clearly show its heritage.
When I was on my recent trip, I ate at the above MFC in Augusta, Georgia. You can also see some of the branded packaging that the remaining stores can buy from their distributor, sporting the original trademark that has since been canceled by the patent office. This particular restaurant was one of four MFC's originally operated by Georgia football star Theron Sapp after he retired from the NFL. Sapp has commented several times over the decades about his time running MFC restaurants. He commented on his struggles at times to stay afloat and all the hard work that went into making it a success. After several years, Sapp sold all but one of his MFC restaurants off. The last one that he kept was this one in downtown Augusta, and once he hit his stride operating it, the restaurant provided him a comfortable retirement and wealth to pass on to his children and grandchildren. After 35 years he retired, and the family now running this store couldn't be friendlier. The chicken was excellent, too.
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