BEAUMONT, Texas — If you're craving fried chicken from Church's Chicken you may have to drive a little further due to what the company calls a "temporary closure" of nearly all of its restaurants in Southeast Texas.
Recently all but four of the 14 Church's Chicken restaurants in Southeast Texas were quietly shut down.
In Beaumont five of six locations are listed as "temporarily closed" and show no daily hours. One Beaumont location on Highway 105 is currently open.
Foodies in Southeast Texas have been discussing the closures on Best Bites, a private Facebook group that boasts more than 17,000 users who are mainly from the area.
Some commenters speculated that the company was dealing with a chicken shortage but others pointed out that that none of Church's competitors, like Popeye's, seemed to be having issues.
12News reached out to Church's Chicken and a company representative responded saying the "temporary closures" are due to a franchisee not meeting company standards.
The company is "committed to ensuring the highest food quality and safety standards are consistently maintained at all of our restaurant locations," the representative said in the emailed statement.
"One of our franchisees recently failed to meet those standards and bring its operations into compliance, which resulted in the temporary closure of more than one of the locations it operated."
The company is working to to reopen the locations as soon as possible they told 12News.
The franchisee that runs the Beaumont locations is Best American Hospitality, or BAH.
A spokesperson for the office of the Texas Comptroller told 12News on Friday that BAH owes more than $180,000 for at least four years of Texas Franchise tax. The company did previously paid off some back sales taxes it owed but still owes also owes $8,700 in penalties for the late sales taxes he said.
The spokesperson made it clear that the Texas Comptroller did not order the restaurants to be shut down.
A check of Jefferson County Appraisal District data for the Beaumont locations that are closed shows the exact same owner address as can be found for BAH.
12News asked the Church's Chicken spokesman about the franchise tax issue but was told, "we cannot comment on the former franchisee’s tax issues with the State of Texas."
The four locations that remain open in Southeast Texas appear to be owned by a different franchisee according to appraisal district data.
Nearly all Church's Chicken locations in Southeast Texas now 'temporarily closed'
The Church's Chicken website showed the closure doesn't seem to be limited to Southeast Texas.
There are 59 locations listed for Houston and 23 of those, more than a third, are also "temporarily closed."
On Friday afternoon all of the branding had been removed from the Church's Chicken location on Magnolia St. in Beaumont.
A neighbor told 12News that as recently as last week the restaurant was open and serving chicken. He said a crew removed the signs from the restaurant on Thursday.
While a 12News crew was there at least three cars pulled into the parking lot and left.
Here's the locations that are still open according to the Church's Chicken website...
- Beaumont at at 7525 Highway 105
- Bridge City at 1805 Texas Ave
- Lumberton at 795 S Main St
- Pinehurst at 32346 State Hwy 249
Here's all the Southeast Texas locations listed as closed...
- Beaumont at 229 Dowlen
- Beaumont at 2780 Washington Blvd.
- Beaumont at 2999 Magnolia St
- Beaumont at 3095 Calder Avenue
- Beaumont at 615 Washington Blvd.
- Nederland at 930 Nederland Ave
- Port Arthur at 1849 Jefferson Drive
- Port Arthur at 2000 Gulfway Drive (may have been closed since Harvey)
- Orange at 1322 N. 16Th Street
- Jasper at 849 S. Wheeler St
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Church's Chicken got it's start in 1952 in San Antonio when George W. Church first opened "Church's Fried Chicken To-Go" according to the company's website.
None of the 36 Church's Chicken restaurants listed in San Antonio are are currently closed according the site.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
Here's the full company statement...
Church’s Chicken is committed to ensuring the highest food quality and safety standards are consistently maintained at all of our restaurant locations.
One of our franchisees recently failed to meet those standards and bring its operations into compliance, which resulted in the temporary closure of more than one of the locations it operated.
We are very committed to the Texas market and are working to re-open those restaurants as quickly as possible.
Guests can continue to enjoy our fresh and delicious chicken and biscuits through our delivery partners, which are currently offering special promotions, as well as at other area locations.