Franchising

Church's promotes exec to lead ambitious international growth plans

Photo: Provided.

May 24, 2021

Church's Texas Chicken and Texas Chicken parent company, Church's Chicken, has promoted one of its vice presidents — Russ Sumrall — to senior vice president, international dtrategic development, as part of the chain's plans to double its presence across most of the world, a news release said.

Sumrall was previously vice president, international development and franchisee profitability, where he negotiated deals to launch Texas Chicken in seven countries in East Africa, Cambodia,and Qatar, while also growing the Church's Texas Chicken brand across numerous Canadian provinces. He also supported existing franchisees, by signing business agreements to add restaurants with existing franchisees in Mexico, Thailand, Singapore, and the Middle East and was instrumental in helping the brand open a record 72 restaurants last year.

"We are truly primed for tremendous international growth with our Church's Texas Chicken and Texas Chicken brands. This has resulted in record setting growth each of the last three years," Sumrall said in the release. "Today, we operate in 27 international markets and have agreements in place to expand to nine more.

"Beyond that we are focused on 18 additional markets in the next four years. Our team is ready to bring on great new franchisees to realize dramatic growth for our brands. We are truly bringing the flavorful legendary taste of Texas to the world and I'm honored to lead this growth."

Church's Chicken and its two brands have more than 1,500 locations globally and systemwide sales of more than $1 billion. The company is based in Atlanta.