A 40-year tradition has run its course as the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in St. Joseph closes its doors this morning for good. The iconic red-and-white striped canopy roof has been a presence at Hilltop and Cleveland in St. Joseph dating all the way back to 1976, but the end arrived this morning, and crews were already disassembling equipment and removing things from the building about the time they would ordinarily have been cranking up the fryers to make the day's offerings.
Richard Alford is the local KFC Franchise representative. He tells me, "It's been wonderful serving Kentucky Fried Chicken in the St. Joseph area for many years." He adds, "Our KFC on Hilltop Road was constructed in 1976, and we've remodeled that facility several times over the past few decades. Instead of undergoing another remodel on the current building, we felt it best to focus our future investment efforts on building a new state-of-the-art, KFC restaurant in St. Joseph in the future."
Alford did not immediately identify where the new site might go or what timeline they would operate under going forward. He did remind KFC fans and customers that the KFC on M-139 in Benton Harbor will continue to remain open serving traditional KFC entrees.
All St. Joseph KFC employees are being offered positions at neighboring KFC restaurants.
William F. Alford, Inc. is the Franchisee in St. Joseph, in addition to other KFC restaurants throughout the Southwest Michigan regional marketplace.
KFC Corporation is based in Louisville, Kentucky and is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain with more than 18,000 outlets in more than 115 countries and territories around the world. Corporate statistics show that each week more than 13-million people visit a KFC restaurant in the United States alone.
