Kenny Rogers Roasters
Kenny Rogers Roasters is a chain of chicken-based restaurants founded in 1991 by country musician Kenny Rogers and former KFC CEO John Y. Brown Jr., who was a former governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Brown had been an early investor in Kentucky Fried Chicken from 1964 to 1971. During his successful music career, Rogers had appeared in several commercials for the Dole Food Company before founding this restaurant chain.
Company type
1991
156 (worldwide)[1]
Berjaya Corporation[2]
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The menu of Kenny Rogers Roasters originally featured wood-fired rotisserie chicken. After closing all of its U.S. operations and a series of ownership changes, Kenny Rogers Roasters operates principally in Asia as part of Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Corporation Berhad. The Kenny Rogers Roasters brand is owned by Kenny Rogers Roasters International Corporation, a subsidiary of Roasters Asia Pacific (Cayman) Limited which itself is owned by Berjaya Corporation Berhad.[3]
In popular culture[edit]
Kenny Rogers Roasters is the center of an episode of Seinfeld, "The Chicken Roaster". After a branch opens in the neighborhood, Kramer cannot sleep due to its neon sign shining through his window, so he hangs up a banner to drive it out of business. The branch shuts down at the end of the episode when Jerry unintentionally sabotages it with a soaked rat hat.[6] The story was inspired by a real-life confrontation between a New York City branch of Kenny Rogers Roasters and a neighboring law office.[30]
On the HBO show The Sopranos, Kenny Rogers Roasters is referenced as the restaurant where Janice Soprano served former NFL star Barry Sanders while working there as a waitress.[31]
On the FX show Archer, reference is made to a "Kenny Loggins Roasters" in an allusion to the real-life Kenny Rogers Roasters.[32]