Harold P. Pierce (August 11, 1917 – March 8, 1988) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

who founded the successful

Harold's Chicken Shack Harold's Chicken Shack (also referred to as The Fried Chicken King, Harold's Chicken, or simply Harold's) is a popular fried chicken restaurant based in Chicago, Illinois. The chain operates primarily in Chicago's predominantly black communities ...

restaurant chain in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. Pierce was born in

Midway, Alabama Midway is a town located in eastern Bullock County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 421. Old Merritt School Margaret Elizabeth Merritt of Midway sold two acres for $5 to the State of Alabama in 1921 as a site f ...

, and moved to Chicago in 1943 from Freemanville, Alabama, to work as a chauffeur for Jack Stern, a furniture store owner. By 1950, he was running a small restaurant with his wife, Hilda, on 39th Street. The H & H specialized in chicken feet and dumplings. Pierce thought that he could adapt his recipe for fried chicken, and a friend, Gene Rosen, who ran a poultry shop nearby, offered him some chickens to experiment with. The resultant recipe caused Pierce to open Harold's Chicken Shack at 47th and Greenwood in 1950. He

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

d the idea out to friends and family who opened additional Harold Chicken Shacks throughout Chicago. One of Pierce's stipulations was that they purchase their chickens from Rosen. Otherwise, Pierce did not interfere with the management of the stores, which led to deviations in the techniques, flavors, and qualities of the product as well as variations in the menu from one restaurant to another. After retiring in the early 1980s, he moved to

Beaverville, Illinois Beaverville (formerly St. Marie) is a village in Beaverville Township, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. The population was 362 at the 2010 census. History In 1851, 32 families from the area of Montreal, Canada, mostly newlywed or sing ...

, where he indulged in a passion for raising hunting dogs. Pierce died in Kankakee, Illinois, of prostate cancer in 1988. His second wife, Willa, took over running the business and began expanding it outside of Chicago. Willa died on January 21, 2003, in Beaverville.

References

* "Harold Pierce, 70, Dies, Chicken Franchise Founder," '' Jet'', March 28, 1988 * "Harold Pierce, 70, founder of Harold's Chicken Shacks," ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'', March 11, 1988.
Social Security Death Index

External links

* Sula, Mike
"The First Family of Fried Chicken"
'' Chicago Reader'', April 14, 2006. 1917 births 1988 deaths Fast-food chain founders People from Midway, Alabama Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in Illinois Businesspeople from Chicago American restaurateurs 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century African-American businesspeople {{chicago-stub