Brown's Chicken & Pasta, also known simply as Brown's Chicken, is a chain of

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 ...

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s specializing in

fried chicken Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

. It is based in the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

History

The chain traces its origins to 1949, when John and Belva Brown opened a restaurant in

Bridgeview, Illinois Bridgeview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately southwest of the Chicago Loop. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the village population was 17,027. History The e ...

. Brown's expanded to many locations throughout the United States in the 1970s. In the 1980s,

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...

was added to the menu and eventually to the name of the company. In the 1990s, a traditional grill named "The Chicago Way" was added to all Brown's restaurants. After 2005, the company contracted their locations to exclusively within the Chicago metropolitan area. Former company president Frank Portillo is the brother of Dick Portillo, founder and former owner of The Portillo Restaurant Group, which was sold to Berkshire Partners in 2014.

Brown's Chicken massacre

On January 8, 1993, the event that would become infamous as the Brown's Chicken massacre occurred at a

Palatine, Illinois Palatine () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a northwestern residential suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 67,908. As of the 2010 Census, it was the seventh-largest community in Cook Coun ...

, branch. Seven people were killed, including both owners and five employees, all of whom were found bound in the walk-in freezer. In 2002,

James Degorski The Brown's Chicken Massacre was a mass murder that occurred on January 8, 1993 in Palatine, Illinois, when two robbers killed seven employees at a Brown's Chicken fast-food restaurant. The case remained unsolved for nearly nine years, until one o ...

and Juan Luna were arrested for the murders. In May 2007, Luna was convicted of his part in the murders and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. On September 28, 2009, James Degorski was found guilty of the murders. The massacre had an adverse effect on the entire Brown's Chicken chain. Sales at all restaurants dropped by 35 percent within months of the incident, and the company eventually closed 100 restaurants in the Chicago area.

References

External links

Corporate website
Cuisine of Chicago Fast-food poultry restaurants Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food franchises Restaurants established in 1949 Restaurants in Chicago Regional restaurant chains in the United States Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois 1949 establishments in Illinois Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 Chicken chains of the United States {{US-restaurant-stub

History

Brown's Chicken massacre

See also

References

External links