George Sombonos foray into the food business world came way back in the early 1970s, when he used to assist his late father manage his Johannesburg based restaurant, Dairy Den.
In 1972, on the condition that he visit his aunt in Greece on his way home, George’s father bought him a ticket to the US. This trip was a huge stepping stone for George’s dream in developing one of the largest chicken franchise in the world.
US Trip
When he got there, George spent most of his time soaking up trade journals and tasting food. He would taste 20 pieces of chicken and 12 hamburgers on a daily basis until one day in Waco Texas, where he tasted the best chicken ever.
After this mouth-watering experience, Sombonos invited the owner of the Texas based restaurant for dinner, to try and convince him to sell him the rights to his special recipe.
The two went back & forth for a couple of hours but the following morning, the owner finally agreed to sell him the recipe for $5000. Unfortunately, George didn’t have that kind of money.
Magic Recipe
He was instead forced to settle for a different untested recipe from the same restaurant owner, costing him $1000 which he paid in traveller’s cheaques.
According to Sombonos, buying the untested recipe was a huge leap of faith because for all he knows, the owner could’ve sold him a mere salt and pepper mix.
When he got back, George swapped Dairy Den’s existing recipe with the one he got from his US trip without informing his father. From then on, sales surged from R25 000 to R200 000 per month over a 4 year period.
One day on a visit, George’s uncle told his father, “your chicken tastes fantastic these days, what have you done to it??”…..
……to which George’s father replied angrily in his Greek accent, “That little b**tard must have done something to it, I’ll slaughter him”
When George was 23, his father was weakened by a heart attack, this prompted George to start running Dairy Den on his own.
George defies apartheid….
In 1975, George did the unthinkable by starting to serve black people in their cars despite being prohibited by the apartheid government. According to Sombonos, he did this because felt like he was giving blacks their dignity back.
Although his father didn’t agree with this, the fact that money was rolling in, soothed the situation. This move earned Sombonos millions of customer loyalty from the black community.
In 1978, while Dairy Den was making over R200 000 per month, Sombonos asked his father for 5% of the profits, to which he was denied. His father threatened that he’d ask George’s cousin from Bloemfontein to replace him.
Since George didn’t want anybody to take his spot, decided it was best he continues working for that measly salary, especially considering he just got married.
In 1980, George’s father went to visit Greece, to which George saw a window of opportunity to negotiate and change the lease in his own name. When his father found out, he didn’t speak to George for 3 months but family being family, eventually the two reconciled 3 months before George’s father passed away.
The Start Of Chicken Licken
In January 1981, George renamed Dairy Den to Golden Fried Chicken but after a waiter’s intervention soon after, Golden Fried Chicken was changed to Chicken Licken. It costed Sombonos R75 for the company’s logo, which is still being used today.
In 1982, when Chicken Licken expanded to 5 stores, KFC took them to court due to Chicken Licken’s name being closer KFC’s “Finger Lickin Good” slogan. Sombonos won the case and from then on, the highway was open.
Expansion
George was desperate to expand Chicken Licken much further, so much so that he even gave away the first 2 franchises in Alexandra and Soweto for free.
He started selling franchises in 1985 for R3000, but would help out every franchisee with R15 000 worth of equipment & stock to get the dice rolling. And he also didn’t charge royalties for the first 4 months of operation
Because of this, George didn’t make that much money, but knew if he keeps playing this long game, it will eventually pay huge dividends in the future.
Today…..
For over 40 years, Chicken Licken has grown from one store in Johannesburg to over 400 in South Africa. There’s also more than 18 stores in Botswana.
In the past, Sombonos wanted to expand the company to other African countries including the likes of Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Mauritius, but due to inconsistent supply of Chicken, unscrupulous franchisees and politics, the company withrawn its services.
In 2013, Chicken Licken only owned 12 of its South Africans stores, with 6 of them being the most successful. According to George, he doesn’t believe in a restaurant model of having a company owning too many of its stores.
During his US trip, he saw Subway utilizing the same system and told himself that when he finally runs Dairy Den on his own, he’ll incorporate the same system to expand the restaurant.
The company now sells over 200 000 chickens per week, with the Hot Wings pulling in six figure digits on a monthly basis.
When Sombonos enlisted the help of Rainbow Chicken as a supplier, they initially thought he was running a Mickey Mouse operation, but when sales began surging, they were left with no choice but to take him seriously.
At some point, Chicken Licken sold so many fried chickens so much so that Rainbow Chicken even failed to supply them, forcing the company to import from Brazil…..who’s Mickey Mouse now huh??
According to George, only 2 key ingridients are needed to make a successful chicken fast food franchise: CHICKEN & MARKETING, the latter is evidenced by the jaw breaking adverts Chicken Licken has pulled over the years.
In 2022, Chicken Licken’s annual turnover was well over R3 billion and by the looks of things, the number will continue going higher and higher.
Chicken Licken currently has tens of thousands of employees, making the company one of the biggest employers in the African continent.
His legacy lives on…..
George Sombonos sadly passed away in 2016 after suffering from cancer, but his legacy still lives on.
He showed that with enough hardwork, planning, risk taking, marketing, teamwork and perseverance, one can go very far in life.
He took Chicken Licken from being a small time fish in the mud, to a shark dominating the ocean. The company has over 10% of Mzansi’s fast food market, competing with the likes of KFC and McDonald’s……..may his soul RIP.
