Chester's Chicken Hires Industry Veteran Bill Rice as Executive Vice President

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Chester's Chicken, the fresh fried chicken quick-service restaurant concept with over 1,300 active franchised and licensed locations across the U.S., welcomed Bill Rice to the executive team as executive vice president, head of sales, operations and supply chain. Rice joins Chester's after a short retirement preceded by nearly four decades of experience in foodservice supply chain management, most recently as a senior vice president at Krispy Krunchy Foods, LLC.

Under Rice's leadership, the company plans to accelerate growth and evolution. Rice will ensure team members have the resources needed to achieve Chester's aggressive growth goals while continuing to support existing franchise partners.

"We continue to prioritize investing in the Chester's leadership team, and Bill is the perfect complement," said Alexis Lobodocky, general manager, Chester's Chicken. "He brings extensive expertise in supply chain, an area of opportunity that will drive gains for the Chester's brand and Chester's operators."

Prior to Chester's Chicken, Rice served seven years at Krispy Krunchy, where he championed a redesign of the company's supply chain network. Notable achievements also included overhauling procedures on issues including vendor and manufacturer selection, quality control, inventory and organizational management; developing a turn-key branded grab-n-go and breakfast program, in addition to several other menu items and product concepts; and achieving year-over-year double-digit sales growth by establishing and maintaining continuous sources of supply amidst various supply chain disruptions.

Rice has also held leadership roles at Intl. Traders Inc./MBM Corp., Performance Food Group and Kraft Foodservice Corp.

"The Chester's culture and core values like 'winning as a team' and 'fried chicken is fun' are what drew me in and convinced me to exit retirement," said Rice. "It's refreshing to be working alongside some of the best in the industry who are energized about our future and focused on initiatives that deliver the most value to our operators."

Rice took his position in January and has been working on several Q1/Q2 projects, including a supply chain optimization study, adding new and profitable menu items, equipping the team with new sales tools and bringing on additional resources to the field team.