Ezell's Famous Chicken is a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

restaurant. The first restaurant was opened on February 3, 1984, in Seattle's

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neighborhood, near Garfield High School. The restaurant chain has 12 other locations in the

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, including a location on the

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campus in Redmond that opened in 2006. In 2015, the chain opened its

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location, its first restaurant outside of Western Washington. The first international location for Ezell's opened in June 2015, in

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. The Sharjah location has since closed. Ezell's was made famous when talk show host

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called it her favorite fried chicken. It is also said she has the chicken flown to her in Chicago when she has a craving.

History

The restaurant was founded by Ezell Stephens and Lewis Rudd, opening its first location on February 3, 1984, in the Central District. The pair, from

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, discussed opening a restaurant in 1978 after Ezell left the Coast Guard and Lewis left the Army. Stephens and Rudd attended

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and later earned a loan from the

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to open their store. A second location was opened in the University District in 1988, but closed in 1994 after financial problems. A second round of expansion began in 1998. In 2021, Ezell's launched a "R.U.B.B. (Raising Up Black Businesses) Initiative", offering 20 inaugural grants of $2,500 each to Black-owned businesses or organizations in Washington state. The Initiative expanded to include a leadership conference the following year.

Departure of Ezell Stephens

Following a contentious lawsuit Ezell Stephens left the company he started with his business partners Lewis and Faye. Ezell opened three restaurants in Everett,

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, and Renton,

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. In November 2011, Ezell Stephens changed the name of his three locations to Heaven Sent Fried Chicken, because in the lawsuit he lost the rights to the name, but got to keep his recipe. In February 2019, the Renton location of Heaven Sent closed.

References

External links

Ezell's website

Heaven Sent Fried Chicken
{{Restaurants in Seattle African-American history in Seattle Black-owned restaurants in the United States Restaurants in Central District, Seattle Fast-food poultry restaurants Fast-food franchises Restaurants established in 1984 Chicken chains of the United States American companies established in 1984 1984 establishments in Washington (state)

History

Departure of Ezell Stephens

See also

References

External links