Number of locations 8 Founder Malcom Hare Headquarters United States of America | Area served Southern United States Founded 1975 | |
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Industry Casual Dining Restaurants | ||
Po' Folks (later restyled PoFolks) is an American family restaurant chain founded in 1975 in Anderson, South Carolina. Between 1982 and 1988, Po' Folks was operated by the fast food chain Krystal.
History
Malcom Hare opened the first Po' Folks in 1975 in Anderson, South Carolina.
The restaurant was named after a 1961 hit single by country music singer Bill Anderson. Although Anderson initially planned to file a lawsuit against the chain for using the name, he later sold the rights to the chain and served as its spokesperson. He and Conway Twitty also acquired franchise rights to a location in Oklahoma City in 1983.
Krystal acquired Po' Folks in 1982 and continued to expand it. By 1984, the chain had 102 restaurants in 17 states. Eric A. Holm (now with Golden Corral) was director of construction and accused of taking bribes for favorable construction deals. Krystal later merged Po' Folks with DavCo, a division of the company which franchised Wendy's restaurants. In 1988, Po' Folks filed for bankruptcy. As a result, the Po' Folks restaurants were sold, and the remaining assets continued to operate as DavCo. There are still eight PoFolks operating in the Southeast, seven of which are owned by Peter Sostheim in the Panhandle of Florida and Enterprise, Alabama, and one in St. Petersburg, Florida.