# You Remember Kenny Rogers Roasted Chicken? What went wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854 "2015-06-18T15:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/21 "2015-06-18T22:18:49Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve read that chain restaurants often bring in a specialized crew to open a new restaurant. They make great food and focus on service. It gives the restaurant a favorable start in a new location and attracts loyal customers. > > They train locals to cook the menu and run the restaurant. The specialized crew leaves for the chain’s next restaurant opening. > > It didn’t seem to work for Kenny Rogers. The locals just couldn’t replicate the menu. From what I recall, that seemed to happen at every new location. Great food for a month or so and then it imploded. I guess thats when the specialized crew moved on to the next new outlet. Which, in a nutshell, is a portrait of the shit end of the franchise stick. I have known very few people who bought into a franchise because they loved or were good at what the franchise did. They bought in because they believed, or were told, that it would be a gold mine. Their $100k or $250k or $1M would float back to them fivefold every year, just by running the store out of the franchise operation manual. That they knew nothing much about food, or restaurateurship, or retail, or customer service, or printing, or signmaking, or pizza, or roller skating, or whatever franchise system they bought into - that wasn’t supposed to make any different. Buy in, push the buttons according to the plan, wait for success. The failures in chain restaurants are particularly obvious, but I am also sensitive to fundamental lack of skill in the business’s business for sign shops and printers. Drives me crazy when I have to work with a client who’s had half their business setup done by an inept Mr. Speedy Signs. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/22 "2015-06-18T22:52:55Z")
I attended SBA training sessions in the late 1980’s. Preparing to apply for a SBA loan to open a computer shop. One of the most impressive speakers was this elderly gentleman that had run a burger stand near a community college. He had a steady stream of customers. Long lines at lunch when students got their class break. Most people would think it was easy money running that business. He spoke for almost two hours about the work load and challenges. There were a lot of challenges most of us had never considered. Quite a sobering dose of reality for us budding entrepreneurs. I learned latter that he had given that same talk a couple times a month for over fifteen years. He told it really well. I eventually decided against getting a SBA loan, opening a brick & mortar store and investing in inventory. Best decision of my life. I would have lost everything. I did computer work, part-time from my home and still struggled to make money. The costs of a store lease, a small inventory and even one or two employees would have been too much. Opening a Business is a tough. I urge people to take every class the SBA center offers. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/23 "2015-06-18T23:00:14Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Opening a Business is a tough. I urge people to take every class the SBA center offers. I can’t say as I disagree - at least, I can’t disagree that prospective business owners should be VERY well informed about the road ahead - but my experience with SBA and other state/public business development agencies in recent years has been dismal. The information is so generic and watered down that webinars of half the length can be found with equivalent content… and I HATE webinars for this kind of thing. I attended one that was purportedly on how to market your small business on the web. It was two hours of hand-waving, extremely generic and slightly outdated information aimed at some imaginary center of people who were going to drop a couple of hundred $K into a brick and mortar store… which described NO ONE in the room. The takeaway was \The web can be used to market the sheeeyit out of your business!\ ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/24 "2015-06-18T23:00:56Z")
I’m pretty sure some guy shook out his wet hat and got nutria fur everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/25 "2015-06-18T23:09:44Z")
It sounds like they’ve changed the training. The classes I took in the late 80’s were very much focused on creating a business plan and the realities of the hard work ahead. They gave out literature on the numbers and the types of failed businesses. Some types of businesses are over saturated. Can the city support yet another hair salon? It was meant to make people think long and hard before applying for a SBA loan and risk opening yet another failed business. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/26 "2015-06-19T00:35:51Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I’m pretty sure some guy shook out his wet hat and got nutria fur everywhere. I think it was the Giant Neon Sun in the shape of a chicken! On the other hand, it had the Wood that made it Good. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/27 "2015-06-19T00:44:19Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Anyone make fantastic roast chicken at home? I’d love a recipe. AFAIK every Kenny Rogers location closed in the South over fifteen ears ago. I have never seen one since before 2001. > **[zuni cafe’s roasted chicken + bread salad](https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/zuni-cafe-roast-chicken-bread-salad/)** > > There’s good roast chicken, and then there’s Judy Roger’s legendary approach — dry brine, crazy crisp skin and a salad that’s akin to deconstructed stuffing. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/28 "2015-06-19T00:53:25Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It sounds like they’ve changed the training. The classes I took in the late 80’s were very much focused on creating a business plan and the realities of the hard work ahead. They gave out literature on the numbers and the types of failed businesses. Some types of businesses are over saturated. Can the city support yet another hair salon? It was meant to make people think long and hard before applying for a SBA loan and risk opening yet another failed business. To some extent, that was the same, and the problem. The “solid” info they had was for a very traditional business model - brick and mortar, local trade, common business types - with just a dash of “new opportunities” like selling your junk internationally. The problem is that the crowd was looking for smaller-scale opportunities that would work in a semi-rural area, and while that’s a potentially viable arena, nothing these rote suits had to say even crossed with that reality. Nor any reality except “another nail salon.” ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/29 "2015-06-19T01:42:03Z")
Kenny Rogers Roasters is alive and kicking in the Philippines. And you can stop by Shakys Pizza and Tower Records while you are at it. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/30 "2015-06-19T04:07:15Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I’m pretty sure some guy shook out his wet hat and got nutria fur everywhere. That’s not going to be good. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/31 "2015-06-19T04:54:21Z")
I didn’t realize that was a real restaurant. For chicken: 300° for three hours is the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/32 "2015-06-19T05:19:44Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I’m pretty sure some guy shook out his wet hat and got nutria fur everywhere. Also, they served a [vile weed](https://youtu.be/91au6Y5q8j0) as a side dish. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/33 "2015-06-19T05:29:56Z")
The only times I’ve had Kenny Rogers Chicken were in a suburban Tokyo restaurant in the mid 90s. It was delicious! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/34 "2015-06-19T05:30:25Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > They also got sued for recipe infringement by a smaller chicken restaurant chain, in a suit that was apparently live enough that KRR ended up buying out the other chain as a defensive measure. We need to summon **Bricker** or someone, but I find this dubious, at least given the brief explanation provided here. Recipes can be neither [patented](http://www.uspto.gov/custom-page/inventors-eye-advice-1) (practically speaking) nor [copyrighted](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html) (beyond the specific expression of the recipe), and so while another restaurant might actually raise a lawsuit, it would have no merit. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/35 "2015-06-19T06:19:58Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > We need to summon **Bricker** or someone, but I find this dubious, at least given the brief explanation provided here. Recipes can be neither [patented](http://www.uspto.gov/custom-page/inventors-eye-advice-1) (practically speaking) nor [copyrighted](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html) (beyond the specific expression of the recipe), and so while another restaurant might actually raise a lawsuit, it would have no merit. This is correct. There is no IP in a recipe. It must have been something else, but I can’t think of what - I don’t believe the chicken would have been cooked using a patented process, and I sure hope Kenny Rogers owns his own trademark. Anyway, Kenny Rogers is alive and well in Singapore. The chicken is terrible though. They used to be good about a decade or so ago, at least the way I remembered it, but now for some reason the chicken is terrible. BUT, they still draw crowds! I couldn’t believe it. Given how busy the restaurant was, we thought that KRR had cleaned up their act and made good chicken again, but nope. It was terrible. The corn muffins are still good though. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/36 "2015-06-19T11:46:36Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > We need to summon **Bricker** or someone, but I find this dubious, at least given the brief explanation provided here. Recipes can be neither [patented](http://www.uspto.gov/custom-page/inventors-eye-advice-1) (practically speaking) nor [copyrighted](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html) (beyond the specific expression of the recipe), and so while another restaurant might actually raise a lawsuit, it would have no merit. > [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > This is correct. There is no IP in a recipe. It must have been something else, but I can’t think of what - I don’t believe the chicken would have been cooked using a patented process, and I sure hope Kenny Rogers owns his own trademark. > > Anyway, Kenny Rogers is alive and well in Singapore. The chicken is terrible though. They used to be good about a decade or so ago, at least the way I remembered it, but now for some reason the chicken is terrible. BUT, they still draw crowds! I couldn’t believe it. Given how busy the restaurant was, we thought that KRR had cleaned up their act and made good chicken again, but nope. It was terrible. > > The corn muffins are still good though. [Here you go](http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-12-29/business/9203090344_1_kenny-rogers-roasters-wood-roasted-cluckers). Not “copying our recipe,” but “copying every damn thing in sight,” was the accusation. [And here is a timeline of stories](http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9501134986/cluckers-shareholders-approve-merger-kenny-rogers-roasters) wherein KRR bought the (smaller, operating at a loss) competitor rather than settle or go to court. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/37 "2015-06-19T11:53:00Z")
It might of been the method of cooking was patented. I believe Colonel Sanders patented the method Kentucky Fried Chicken used. They used some kind of special pressure based method to fry the chicken. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/38 "2015-06-19T12:25:50Z")
What was the chicken place in the Seinfeld episode? “It’s the wood that makes it good”? Kramer couldn’t sleep because of the red neon sign. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/39 "2015-06-19T12:50:12Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > They also got sued for recipe infringement by a smaller chicken restaurant chain, in a suit that was apparently live enough that KRR ended up buying out the other chain as a defensive measure. > [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > This is correct. There is no IP in a recipe. It must have been something else, but I can’t think of what - I don’t believe the chicken would have been cooked using a patented process, and I sure hope Kenny Rogers owns his own trademark. > > Anyway, Kenny Rogers is alive and well in Singapore. The chicken is terrible though. They used to be good about a decade or so ago, at least the way I remembered it, but now for some reason the chicken is terrible. BUT, they still draw crowds! I couldn’t believe it. Given how busy the restaurant was, we thought that KRR had cleaned up their act and made good chicken again, but nope. It was terrible. > > The corn muffins are still good though. I was going to step in on this question but it looks like it has been handled. There is no IP protection of recipes. The claims were for things like trade dress infringement. ---
**Author:** ![GummiGene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b19c9b/32.png) [@GummiGene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GummiGene)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854/40 "2017-02-04T00:17:14Z")
Kenny Rogers was in new York a VERY short time. The WOOD MAKES IT GOOD was so TRUE. In New York…real BB is practically non exisitent. just try and find a steak or BBQ restaurant that actually cooks over real fire and wood … I cant find one. The CHicken at Kennys was so good no matter what you ordered–you wanted MORE. They were always running out of chicken or the wait was very long despite the claim it was fast. Another factor was the COST of a meal while not significantly higher than a typical Fast food Bill at Wendy’s , MCDonalds, etc…it seemed there werent ENOUGH new yorkers willing to go from 5.00 a meal to 8 or 9.00 a ,meal with tax and drink. BIG MKISTAKE. Now what does a meal cost at McDonalds 10.00 pretty much (No more 1.00 MENU…its GONE…). SO these people decided an 8.99 meal was too much and started heading back to the Big Macs and Whoppers which in the early 1990’s were still very reasonable. By the time I waited only ONE month to return to a Kenny ROgers (there was one on West 71st and brodway I recall in the early 90s)…it was already shutting its doors. NO MORE CHICKEN :(((((( [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-remember-kenny-rogers-roasted-chicken-what-went-wrong/722854.md?page=3)