Southern Fried Chicken

About Southern Fried Chicken

Reading-based Southern Fried Chicken was founded in the 1970s by Arthur Withers, who came across fried chicken when working in South Carolina. Although its chicken is sold in hundreds of fast-food outlets across the UK, its own restaurant footprint here is relatively small compared with its global portfolio of hundreds in 32 countries. At the start of 2024, it had six restaurants here, but a flurry of UK franchise openings in the second half of 2024 signalled a new direction for the business.

Andrew Withers, son of Arthur and chairman of parent company FFS Brands, told Propel it is now focusing on expanding its Southern Fried Chicken restaurants in the UK and sees potential for 200-300 sites here. “International has always been busier for us than the UK because we started franchising internationally in the 1980s, when someone came along asking to open in the Middle East, and it went from there,” said Withers. “And so, we spread internationally first, it’s just the way we evolved. Only in the last few years have we thought about turning the UK market into a franchise model and not just a recipe for takeaways.

“Very simply, in 2020 I couldn’t get on a plane anymore due to covid, so there was no choice but to focus on the UK market. I’d avoided it as there are chicken outlets out there who have the recipe but aren’t franchised, so we can’t go and dictate to them unless they sign an agreement to let us train them and bring them up to standard.

“But when we’ve gone into old units they’ve accepted the change - the Aylesbury and Dunstable locations have converted fully to the franchise system and sales doubled at both locations as there was consistency and rules in place. The potential here is in the hundreds - I would be very content to get to 200-300. But we’re in no rush and I’d prefer to have ten great partners than 100 bad ones.”

Withers said the UK model for the brand will be small 50 square-metre units, as he “pushes to get a high street presence across the country”. He said: “With Preston, we met a partner that saw an opportunity to grow the brand in the north. We are growing the brand from the outside - we’re looking to open in the regions and then centralise. We found a lot of the big brands have moved out the towns and gone just drive-thru, so we’re going into those smaller locations in the high street as well as secondary high streets. People don’t recognise us yet in the UK, although we have been around a long time - it’s always been here but it’s about bringing the brand back.”

In August 2026, Southern Fried Chicken opened in Manchester for its eighth UK location.

Why franchise with Southern Fried Chicken

• ✓There are four venue types for a Southern Fried Chicken franchise. An express/kiosk requires 25-40 square metres and cost £80,000-£100,000 to build. Food courts require 50-60 square metres and cost £120,000-£180,000 to build. Restaurants require 80-150 square metres and cost £175,000-£250,000 to build. Drive-thrus require 150-250 square metres and cost £280,000-£300,000 to build. An applicant is expected to have access to an investment of no less than £125,000 for a store set up, plus other funds for rent, lease deposit, build costs, working capital and training costs.
• ✓For a single franchise, the franchise fee is £15,000 and the monthly royalty fee is £650. For a development franchise, the franchise fee is £50,000, with an agreement to open three restaurants within the territory, with a six to 12-month gap between each opening. Master franchisees can open an unlimited amount of restaurants within their territory, an six to 12-month intervals, and can sub-franchise from their fourth restaurant.
• ✓Support is available to open multiple locations, while training is for a minimum of 21 days. Franchise types offered are single unit, development and master. The company says it has the fastest return on investment recorded (six months), with typical times being as quick as three years, with average store turnover £15,000 per week.
• ✓Its largest master franchise operates 43 restaurants in a single territory. Southern Fried Chicken would expect franchisees to turn over a minimum of £500,000 in their first year and take approximately £100,000 net profit from a well-run restaurant. Large prime sites can expect to achieve in excess of £300,000 net profit on a turnover of £1.2 million. It charges a minimum monthly royalty fee of £650, with a percentage based on location and size of restaurant.
• ✓The company said: “We are a globally recognised brand with a big support network. Our operations team provide professional and enthusiastic support to our partners through initial on-site training to open the store, regular visits to provide ongoing training and maintain brand standards, and continuous support by phone or email and a wealth of training resources. We provide a full set of manuals covering all aspects of the business plus online resources including training videos, marketing videos, and digital marketing assets.”

Investment breakdown