Golden Chick, known for its Original Golden Tenders, Southern staples and local roots, gave back BIG this holiday season by donating $190,584 to teachers and over 300 schools. Through its fall campaign, 50 cents from each sale of Golden Chick’s State Fair Mini Funnel Cakes was collected and will now be divided between all locations it calls home in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
As a result, over 300 local schools close to Golden Chick restaurants received direct support from the brand through valuable funds that can be used to beautify schools, enhance classrooms or provide a way to bring smiles to students’ faces for the spring semester. Not only is it the first chain-wide charity campaign set to this magnitude, it is also the most money Golden Chick has raised in its 56 years of business.
“For being our first year with a holistic philanthropic initiative in place across all our restaurants, we are overwhelmed and incredibly thankful for the support we received from our loyal customers,” says Golden Chick CEO Mark Parmerlee. “These funds will make big splashes in our local communities and only further instills our focus on supporting our neighbors. Golden Chick has always prided itself in being great members of each community around our restaurants, but this charity effort far surpasses the level of support we have ever achieved. We are proud to be able to help so many schools, teachers and student in our neighborhoods.”
This level of philanthropic involvement has been a culmination of several years of work to align on and implement a system-wide campaign across the brand’s over 220 locations. The brand evaluated several charitable organizations both nationwide and Texas-based, but eventually landed on a glaringly obvious choice – supporting the teachers they see walk through its restaurant doors daily, host Spirit Nights and PTA meetings with and who will help mold the future of the community.
“When we began this initiative, our main goals were to unite our franchisees under one common cause and explore a different avenue to enact change that our brand had not done previously,” adds Howard Terry, Golden Chick CMO. “Throughout this campaign, we’ve not only seen tremendous customer loyalty but also incredible encouragement from our team members, franchisees and operators across our restaurants.”
With Golden Chick’s steady growth and expansion over the past several years, including consistent menu innovation, increased national rankings and award-winning promotions, the timing felt ideal to add another layer of ingenuity to the brand.
“Through giving back, we further bonded our team are making a lasting impact on the culture we’ve established at Golden Chick. We’re thrilled to continue this initiative for many more years to come,” says Parmerlee.
