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CHICAGO (WLS) — Kristen Pierce-Sherrod, the CEO of Harold’s Chicken and daughter of the founder of this beloved Chicago eatery, has passed away at the age of 55.
Her family shared the news through a heartfelt post on social media.
The video above and the detailed report are part of a 2024 feature highlighting Harold’s Chicken.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
For 80 years, Harold’s Chicken Shack has been a cornerstone of Chicago’s dining scene, famed for its mouthwatering fried chicken, typically drizzled with its signature mild sauce.
The renowned fried chicken chain was the vision of Harold Pierce, an enterprising spirit hailing from Midway, Alabama, who relocated to Chicago in the 1940s.
Like many Black Americans who came to Chicago from the South during the Great Migration, Pierce and his wife settled on the South Side, where they opened a restaurant on Oakwood Boulevard called “H & H,” which specialized in fried chicken feet with dumplings.
While H&H was moderately successful, Pierce was obsessed with the idea of using the recipe for his chicken feet for fried chicken.
Using that recipe, Pierce opened the very first Harold’s Chicken Shack at the intersection of 47th Street and Greenwood Avenue in Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood in 1950.
That eatery was an immediate success, and other Harold’s Chicken Shacks would open, primarily on the Chicago’s South Side and West Side, over the next few decades.
“My father was a young Black man from the South with a dream,” his daughter Kristen Pierce-Sherrod said in a 2024 interview with ABC7 from the Harold’s South Loop location. “He worked hard during a time when African Americans weren’t capable of obtaining any businesses or funding. And his hard work paid off.”
Harold’s celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2024, and is more successful than ever. The chain also has nationwide, including in Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and St. Louis.
“It’s the best chicken around,” Pierce-Sherrod said at the time. “That’s why we’re so successful. The others can’t compete ’cause they can’t compare.”
There are 20 Chicken Shacks in the city, suburbs and northwest Indiana.
“Whenever we go out of town and we say were from Chicago, they say, ‘Do you know about Harold’s chicken?’” Pierce-Sherrod said. “It’s a part of Chicago.”
SEE ALSO: Harold’s Chicken Shack celebrates 70 years as one of Chicago’s oldest Black-owned restaurants
Amazingly, the business is still run by the same family. Kristen Pierce-Sherrod was the CEO of the restaurant chain until her death in 2026. And her husband, Vincent Sherrod, assists in training and development for the various franchises.
Pierce-Sherrod shared her vivid memories of working at her uncle’s Harold’s Chicken Shack on Stony Island Avenue during the 2024 interview with ABC7.
“We learned the business at a young age,” Pierce-Sherrod said. “We’re not corporate-owned. We are completely a family-run business.”
What makes Harold’s chicken special is its unique texture and flavor. The product is marinated overnight, and then dredged in a specially seasoned flour for 15 minutes.
“Fresh, everything’s fresh here,” Sherrod said.
Harold’s has become a part of pop culture in Chicago, name-checked by rappers like Lupe Fiasco and Chance. But it’s also become a key part of Chicago’s reputation for distinctive dining.
“We’ve never done commercials,” Pierce-Sherrod said. “That goes back to my dad. He wanted everything to be word of mouth. And when you hear all those rappers mentioning Harold’s, that’s all word of mouth, too.”
What is also unique about Harold’s is the oddly numbered restaurants. Although there are only 41 restaurants nationwide, some locations have higher numbers. For instance, the Harold’s in the South Loop is No. 62. And the Harold’s at 2134 S. Michigan Ave. is No. 71. That’s because there have been a number of Harold’s locations that have closed over the years, and the ones that remain open never have their numbers reassigned.
Harold Pierce died of prostate cancer in 1988. Pierce-Sherrod had maintained the business ever since, operating from the chain’s south suburban headquarters in Hazel Crest. Throughout the country, the various Harold’s locations may have different looks, but they all have the same standards.
“We don’t have franchises. We have license agreements,” Pierce-Sherrod said in 2024. “We form a partnership with the people who operate all of our restaurants. They get to use the Harold’s name and everything associated with Harold’s.”
Pierce-Sherrod and her husband visited most of the franchises to educate the various owners on preparing their food. This attentiveness to each location goes back to Harold Pierce, who would visit all the franchises in Chicago, collecting franchise fees from each location, and providing training on how to prepare his food.
“We’re still visiting all the franchises,” Sherrod said. “We’re looking at things like customer service, that they have the right bags for the food. It’s all about consistency. Harold’s is a business in a box. The seasonings are in a box. Everything’s in a box,” Pierce-Sherrod said. “And we teach all the franchises how prep the food, the proper cooking times, all that. Preparation is important me, like with the wings. I wanted to see the chicken with the wings out over the fries, so the food would be attractive. I want you to sit down, look at the food and say ‘This food’s too good to eat.”
Then, there’s that mild sauce, unique to Harold’s, which combines ketchup, barbecue sauce and hot sauce.
“When I was a kid, you know, the mild sauce was only ketchup and hot sauce,” Pierce-Sherrod said. “Then, we had an idea to mix hot sauce and some things together, and we created the mild sauce.”
The various Harold’s restaurants also give their patrons the option to request how they want their chicken cooked. Pierce-Sherrod said the most notable style is the “Chicago-style.”
“Six wings, fried hard, salt and pepper, mild sauce,” Pierce-Sherrod said. “That’s the Chicago-style.”
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