When people think of fast-food chicken, a lot of images spring to mind: the game-changing spicy chicken sandwich from Popeyes, the boot-shaped Chicken McNuggets from McDonald’s or the family bucket from KFC. While these delectable fried chicken dishes now dominate the fast-food scene, true Angelenos will remember a healthier option that prioritized quick service rather than fast food.
Koo Koo Roo is a Los Angeles institution known for delicious chicken, a troubled history and surprisingly good mac and cheese which is making a comeback in 2025. Before this rooster reemerges from its nest, those who live in LA need to know how this restaurant got started, where it went and how it’s coming back.
The year is 1987. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan have discussed the nuclear arms race, “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles was the top trending song of the previous year and fast food was at an all-time high in terms of popularity. A rise in drive-throughs made getting food faster and more convenient. Burger King was waving the mayonnaise-colored flag of defeat after nearly a decade of fighting in the devastating Burger Wars against McDonald’s. It is against this revolutionary backdrop that two brothers, Mike and Ray Badalian, flipped the script on the fast-food industry.
At a Koreatown strip mall in 1988, the brothers opened up their restaurant, Koo Koo Roo. While its fun name, “Koo Koo Roo,” was popular with kids—and is still remembered fondly by those same kids today—its menu was the exact opposite. The brothers specialized in charbroiled chicken without a trace of butter in a landscape dominated by chicken fried in oil. Instead of deliciously greasy french fries, side dishes included pinto beans and steamed vegetables. Even though the chicken wasn’t fried, it certainly “fly-ed” with LA eaters, specifically parents who loved the healthier option. Within two years, the brothers opened their second location on Beverly Boulevard and Orlando Avenue. It was at this second shop that Koo Koo Roo grabbed the attention of entrepreneur and former real estate broker, Kenneth Berg.
On the very same night when Tom Cruise would lose to Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Berg was looking for a bite to bring home while watching the 1990 Oscars. On his search, he drove past Koo Koo Roo and was taken aback by the flocks of Beverly Hills businessmen eating fast-food chicken with their bare hands while dressed in full suits. Berg decided to stop in and was treated to what he called “the best chicken I ever had in my life,” he later told the Los Angeles Business Journal. Berg and the Badalian brothers quickly became birds of a feather, and ever the entrepreneur, the former real estate broker invested $2.5 million into the business as a silent partner.
Soon after his initial interest, Berg saw a grander future for Koo Koo Roo than its initial founders had intended. Berg wanted to elevate the dining experience with the addition of knives, forks and fresh flowers on all the tables. He eventually bought the brothers out and went public with the chain in 1991. In October of that year, Berg opened Koo Koo Roo on the market and sold the stock for five dollars a share. A gross of $5 million was accumulated from this, and business boomed to include 15 new Southern California locations in 1992, with a planned expansion to include as many as 27 additional storefronts—some of which expanded outside of California into New York, New Jersey and Florida. However, Berg’s golden goose hatched too soon, as the ongoing recession and shifting public opinions of fast food butchered the once-booming industry. Koo Koo Roo’s stock prices tanked to only 25 cents per share, costing Berg and the business $2.5 million during the first part of 1992.
Expansion plans were scrambled, and with only six locations remaining, Berg frantically came up with new ways to entice customers who were growing more and more uninterested in the industry—a major problem on the West Coast, where the Los Angeles Times reported a whopping 25% drop in attendance from even the most frequent fast-food consumers. To separate itself from the chopping block, Koo Koo Roo abandoned the term “fast food” and rebranded itself as a “home meal replacement.” The chain, now renamed Koo Koo Roo California Kitchens, saw the inclusion of a deli counter and a turkey dinner as ways of spicing up its chicken-centric menu. Additionally, after trying a Santa Monica coffee bar called Arrosto Coffee, Berg saw potential in the investment and bought 90% of the company. Its brand of beverages and baked goods was shipped off to Koo Koo Roo locations in the hopes of expanding the restaurant’s presence into breakfast hours.
Changes weren’t only happening in the dining halls but behind the counter as well. Dramatic cuts to company spending provided an additional $500,000 to aid in the business’s recovery. By 1993, Berg brought on UCLA’s very own Michael D. Mooslin to rule the roost as the new chief operating officer and president. In his position, Mooslin also experimented with new additions to the franchise. With all these inspired changes, Koo Koo Roo made a speedy recovery as its storefronts went from an average of $7,000 in weekly sales to a gross of $44,000 a week.
That said, the chicken was still on the run by May 1993 after it lost $2.9 million and another $3 million in the following year. The road to recovery was in sight in 1994 when its unit sales averaged out to about $1.6 million. Shockingly enough, however, this success only brought trouble to the company when the corporation Casual Dining Concepts offered to buy 51% of the company with funds from a previously law-entangled family trust account. While this initially positive word of mouth led to a drastic boom in Koo Koo Roo stock prices, that boom quickly imploded as the financiers pulled out, leaving the stocks to tank once again. The remainder of 1994 and the upcoming 1995 did not bode well for this chicken shack, as it would lose 23 more locations and millions more dollars.
Fortune soon smiled upon Koo Koo Roo, which after receiving $18.5 million in private placements, launched 40 new storefronts nationwide at the beginning of 1996. On top of this, Berg decided to diversify the company even more with his purchase of Color Me Mine—the iconic strip mall pottery place where everyone has attended at least one birthday party. To capitalize on people’s joint love of glazed ceramic and juicy chicken, Color Me Mines were often built near or even inside Koo Koo Roo restaurants. However, to much surprise, these expansions did not prove profitable as the company lost over $12 million in 1996—about $20 million total since Koo Koo Roo went public only five years prior.
Despite all these setbacks, this did not stop Berg’s dreams of broiled chicken supremacy as he eventually acquired the remaining 14 locations of the unfortunately defunct Hamburger Hamlet in 1997. After these investments, Koo Koo Roo stood to lose another $32.8 million.
Fun fact: One of these remaining locations was in Westwood where the Taco Bell is today!
Even after all of this, the Koo Koo Roo corporate team remained optimistic—or koo koo—as they were hopeful for a comeback in 1998. In reality, the company continued to lose popularity to up-and-coming healthy casual eateries such as La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill. Koo Koo Roo was eventually bought out for $143 million in stock by Family Restaurants Inc., which at the time owned both Chi-Chi’s and El Torito. As if this omelet couldn’t have broken any more eggs, Family Restaurants Inc. filed for bankruptcy just five years later, in 2003. This left Koo Koo Roo in a place of uncertainty as its remaining 28 locations slowly dwindled away. The last remaining Koo Koo Roo was in Santa Monica and closed in 2014.
Fortunately for Angelenos, the story doesn’t end there, as Fairfax-area real estate developer Daniel Farasat bought the company’s recipes, logos, trademarks and domains in 2024. Now, he and his brother, who both grew up dining at the very same location Berg got takeout from all those years ago, premiered their relaunch of the beloved Koo Koo Roo at ChainFEST LA 2024, with a full expansion planned for 2025.
While some eggs were scrambled and the company had more than its fair share of tough times, LA’s love of charbroiled chicken, pinto beans and the best mac and cheese ever kept this chain alive back then and is what is bringing it back in 2025.
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Featured Image Photographed by Thomas Hawk via Flickr
