Henny Penny Chicken Comes to Elyria – June 1962

It took a while for nationally franchised chicken to grow in popularity during the early 1960s. 

During that time, many chicken entrepreneurs believed they had the right recipe for success and would eventually rule the roost. 

Here in Lorain County, Chicken in the Rough was added to the menu in the Vogue Room on Colorado Avenue in September 1960. The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant was in Elyria on State Route 113 in 1961. (Colonel Sanders wouldn't bring his patented pressure cookers to Lorain on Oberlin Avenue until April 1971.) Chicken Delight turned up on W. 21st Street in 1964. And Minnie Pearl first hung her price-tagged hat at 2130 Leavitt in September 1969.

Well, here's one that I had never heard of before: Henny Penny. Much like Chicken in the Rough (as well as the early Kentucky Fried Chicken), it was added to an existing restaurant's menu alongside its other offerings. In this case, the restaurant was the Coffee Cup at 360 West Bridge Street in Elyria.

Here's the ad that ran in the Journal back on June 14, 1962.

Henny Penny seems like an odd choice for an advertising mascot. The feathery folk-tale character was the one who mistook the conk on her head by an acorn (or leaf, in some versions of the story) for the sky falling, and ended up getting eaten by a fox. 

So whatever happened to Henny Penny Chicken? It seems to have laid a big egg and disappeared.

However, there is a Henny Penny company based in Eaton, Ohio that successfully sells its pressure cookers to Chick-fil-A, Wendy's and McDonald's. Maybe it's the same company as that in the 1962 ad, having redirected its efforts from chicken to the equipment it refined to cook it in. I don't know for sure.

There is also a nine-outlet Henny Penny Chicken chain in Australia. Unfortunately, I can't find any direct link between the vintage franchised chicken chain in the US, and the restaurant chain Down Under – although they seem to have poached the chicken mascot (shown below).

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In case you are wondering, here's what the building at 360 West Bridge Street in Elyria looks like. And the landmark building is for sale, too.

Courtesy Howard Hanna

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UPDATE (June 21, 2022)

It turns out that the Henny Penny Corporation based in Eaton, Ohio is indeed the same company that was involved with selling Henny Penny Chicken franchises beginning in 1957. The idea was that franchisees had to purchase the company's patented commercial fryer (the world's first) to prepare the chicken. There were 15 outlets in Ohio in 1965. Some of the other states and their number of locations at that time included Indiana (15); Iowa (75); Kansas (20); Illinois (40); and Nebraska (10). The locations included carry-out stores constructed specifically to sell Henny Penny Chicken.

Ad from the May 2, 1962 East Cleveland Leader

Today, the company still manufactures pressure fryers, but is now a leading food service equipment manufacturer. In 2017, the company celebrated 60 years in business.