Mary Brown's Chicken, also known as Mary Brown's, is a Canadian

fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...

with approximately 200 locations coast-to-coast across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The chain specializes in fried chicken and fried plant-based chicken substitute dinners, including sandwiches and tenders with side dishes such as coleslaw and potatoes, as well as national specialties such as

poutine Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec, in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain and there are several competing claims regarding it ...

History

In 1969, Pat Tarrant and Cyril Fleming purchased rights to open up the first Canadian

Golden Skillet Golden Skillet is a fast-food chain that mainly sells fried chicken originating in Richmond, Virginia. The first Golden Skillet chicken was sold in 1963 at the downtown Richmond department store Thalhimer's. The fried chicken recipe was created b ...

fried chicken franchise (originally from Richmond, Virginia) in Newfoundland. The first location was located in St. John's Avalon Mall, however, Tarrant and Fleming were forced to rename the establishment because of legal reasons. They eventually decided to name it Mary Brown's Virginia Fried Chicken, after Mary Brown Guthrie (1909–1955), the wife of Golden Skillet owner and founder Clifton W. Guthrie. According to the company, Mary Brown, who was from

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

, was the creator of the chain's proprietary recipe for American Southern- fried chicken, which was sold to Tarrant and Fleming in 1969. By 1972, Mary Brown's had grown beyond Newfoundland, opening locations in Oshawa and Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area. From there, the chain expanded west to

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, throughout the remaining

Atlantic Provinces Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

, then to

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and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. More recently, Mary Brown's has opened several locations in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and a store in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, Northwest Territories. The brand continues to grow coast-to-coast across Canada.

Key executives

The owner and CEO of Mary Brown's is Gregory Roberts of PI Enterprises Group, an entrepreneur and chartered accountant from

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, Newfoundland and Labrador. Roberts acquired the brand in 2007 and since that time, has grown the chain from about 67 stores to its current count of approximately 200 stores. The president and COO of Mary Brown's is Hadi Chahin, a 20-year plus executive of the food services industry. Prior to joining Mary Brown's, Chahin was the vice president of operations for

Chartwells Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including o ...

, a division of Compass Group Canada. He also held leadership roles with Sodexo Canada,

Prime Restaurants Prime Restaurants Inc. (formerly Prime Restaurant Royalty Income Fund) is a Canadian holding company, which operates the restaurant chains East Side Mario's, Tir Nan Og, Paddy Flaherty's, D'Arcy McGee's, Fionn MacCool's and Bier Markt. Founded i ...

and White Lodging Services. Chahin has undertaken a national rebrand, as well launching the brand in new channels and expanding in existing markets.

Marketing

Mary Brown's uses the slogans "Made Fresh from Scratch" and "100% Canadian" in their materials. "Crave Delicious" has become the brand's overriding tagline since mid-2019. "Made Fresh from Scratch" is a reflection of the brand's preparation methods, focusing on fresh rather than frozen chicken. Mary Brown's frequently uses the word "handcrafted" to express how they prepare their food. "Truly Canadian" was adopted as a slogan in 2017 to reflect the brand's heritage as a Newfoundland-founded, Canadian-owned business. Company materials note that the company is family-owned and operated by Canadians, and sells Canada Grade A chicken raised by Canadian

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s. Mary Brown's original logo was developed in the 1970s and drastically updated in 2000. In late 2017, the logo underwent a refresh as part of a more complete rebranding. In April 2020, in the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Mary Brown's sponsored the temporary removal of all paywalls from Postmedia Network newspaper websites for the month. In October 2021, Mary Brown’s acquired the naming rights to the

Mile One Centre Mary Brown's Centre (formerly Mile One Centre) is an indoor arena and entertainment venue located in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The arena opened in May 2001, replacing Memorial Stadium. At full capacity the arena ca ...

in St. John's, in a 10-year deal worth 1.5 million dollars. These changes took effect on November 5, 2021.

Franchises and corporate stores

Mary Brown's has about 20

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

stores. The balance of its stores, about 180, are franchised and located throughout Canada. Mary Brown's has been a member of the Canadian Franchise Association for over 35 years. They have been awarded the Canadian Franchisees’ Choice Award 9 years consecutively. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, Mary Brown's was named one of the Best Managed Companies in Canada by Deloitte Canada. Mary Brown's currently operates approximately 200 stores nationally.

References

{{Establishments serving chicken Fast-food poultry restaurants Restaurants in Newfoundland and Labrador Fast-food chains of Canada Fast-food franchises Restaurants in Ontario Restaurants established in 1969 1969 establishments in Newfoundland and Labrador Companies based in Markham, Ontario

History

Key executives

Marketing

Franchises and corporate stores

See also

References