[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Golden Chick story began in Central Texas in the late 1960’s when the concept was created by a former employee of a chicken franchise who believed there had to be a better way to run a franchise system. The delicious chicken, created by the development of secret marination and batter mixes, attracted franchise inquires, and by the time the founder sold the chain in 1982, it had grown to 39 restaurants.
In March 1989, Golden Fried Chicken was purchased by an investment group whose involvement was strongly supported by the Golden Fried Chicken franchise community. Since then, the chain has experienced steady growth with new restaurants opening throughout the region, bringing the chain-wide total to over 150 stores.
In September, 1993, the company introduced exciting new enhancements to the Golden Fried Chicken menu as well as the restaurant appearance and thus was born Golden Chick, a concept positioned to propel the golden chain into the future. As of 1996, all new stores were called Golden Chick.
It happened over 30 years ago – The Original Golden Tender™ was born. CSI started using the whole chicken tenderloin (the filet mignon of chicken) to make our Original Golden Tenders™. To guarantee great, fresh taste, CSI marinate tenderloins, hand-batter and cook them to a delicious golden perfection. Since 1985 the Big Guys have tried to copy CSI and they’re still trying to get it right.
CSI set about some Insurance as well as non-Insurance subsidiaries this year. It has recently signed a franchise agreement with Golden Chick – a Texas US-based fried Chicken Chain under our food business subsidiary Crescent Star Foods (Pvt) Limited (CSF).
After opening Golden Chick restaurants in Pakistan under a master franchise rights agreement with US-based Golden Franchising Corporation, Crescent Star Foods has signed a similar agreement with the American company to open 42 stores in six countries of the Gulf region.
According to a securities report filed by its holding company Crescent Star Insurance Crescent Star Foods now holds master franchise rights for Golden Chick stores in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Crescent Star Insurance is a relatively small insurance company in terms of its gross premiums (Rs266 million). It owns 100 percent shares in Crescent Star Foods. Golden Chick is a fast-food chain headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with presence in many Asian and South American countries.
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With almost 1.5 million shares changing hands, the stock price of Crescent Star Insurance gained over 9.2 percent to reach Rs11.80. The Company intends to open its first Gulf restaurant in 2017, the securities filing said.
The Pakistani food entity joined hands with the American firm last August to roll out 30 food outlets in the next 10 years in different cities of Pakistan.
In its detailed financial accounts, Crescent Star Insurance said the local business of its foods subsidiary will become commercially viable during the year 2016 while it is expected to start paying returns from 2017.
With an expanding middle class, the country’s fast-food market has grown in recent years. Many new entrants, like Burger King, Hardee’s, Johnny Rockets and Fat Burger have grabbed a share in the fast-food segment in Pakistan.
According to Al Shaheer Corporation, a prominent meat exporter and retailer, Pakistanis consume about 834,000 tons of poultry meat every year, which makes the nation one of the top 20 consumers of chicken globally.
In the annual general meeting of Crescent Star Insurance last April, the company resolved to authorize investments in the share capital of Crescent Star Foods up to Rs50 million, which enhanced its total investment in the subsidiary up to Rs120 million in aggregate.
The period of investment is long term, it said, with the objective of entering the ‘lucrative food business category.’
Crescent Star Insurance has been on an expansion spree of late. It has invested up to Rs50 million in Pak Kuwait Takaful Company besides investing up to Rs450 million in Dost Steels by underwriting the steel manufacturer’s shares.
It is also acquiring PICIC Insurance at the swap ratio of one to four i.e. any person or institution holding four shares in PICIC Insurance will end up owning one share in Crescent Star Insurance post-acquisition.
Crescent Star Foods (Private) Limited is a subsidiary of Crescent Star Insurance Limited, one the oldest insurance company of Pakistan with a paid up capital of Rs621 million. CSF is a team of vetted professionals with abundant hospitality industry experience within Pakistan, with the objective to provide global standards of hygiene and pocket-friendly prices to customer throughout Pakistan.