Bud’s Chicken & Seafood is a restaurant chain
headquarter in Palm Beach County, Florida but make no mistake this family run
business is built on Fine Food Served Fast with a family friendly service that
has keep customers coming back 56 years.
Regular readers know we
have twice before featured Bud’s Chicken & Seafood in articles by our
GrocerantGuru™ and on Foodservice Solutions® blog here is how The Palm Beach
Post tells there story:
As
a teen-ager, Mark Brinkman smelled like chicken as he spent his high school
years heading straight to work after school to help out at his father’s
take-out restaurant. Now at 54, Brinkman is one of the brothers in charge of
Bud’s Chicken & Seafood, a Palm Beach County family-owned restaurant chain
that has been serving chicken and seafood to Palm Beach County since 1957.
In the late 1970s, the Brinkman
brothers — Mark, 54, Mike, 62, Tom, 57, and Tim, 52 — took over the chain after
their father and founder Bud Brinkman passed away. “I think it was expected of
us,” said Tim, who started working with his brothers at the age of 12. “You
knew what you were going to do.”
And for five decades, the three
generations – founder, sons and now grandchildren — have cultivated a
profitable business that has outlived other restaurants and economic crisis.
Today, Bud’s has seven locations. “The
size of our restaurant has changed, the layout has changed, but people keep
coming back for the food,” said Mark. Larry Kimball, 70, has been going back
once a week for 55 years.
“I remember that store like it
was yesterday, small, crowded and hot because they cooked right behind the
counter,” said Kimball. “I have loved their chicken since the first day.” Rachel
Alberto, a customer of 30 years, said the restaurant has something more than
just great food. “It’s family oriented,” said Alberto, 46, who had her first
job at Bud’s as a cashier. “They are good people.”
The company has decided to keep
the chain local and not expand outside of Palm Beach County or beyond their
control to be able to retain consistent food and personal service. “We like to
be able to go to any restaurant any day of the week and visit [our] employees
and customers,” said Mark, who has turned down offers to franchise and still
uses original recipes and most of the same suppliers.
Bud’s has been making the same
cocktail and tarter sauce from scratch for more than 50 years. And while the
price of goods goes up and down regularly, Mark prefers to maintain their
quality. Staying true to its menu remains a priority for the family business
that started off selling four-piece chicken dinners for $1. Today, that same
dinner is $8.49.
“The temptation is always there
to go to cheaper product or ingredient to save money,” he said. “But we don’t
want to mess with the bread and butter of the business. Fifty years later,
that’s the reason they still come to Bud’s.”
Success does leave clues and
Bud’s is one of America’s restaurant success stories. When locals are
Ready-2-Eat or they head to Bud’s Chicken & Seafood. Bud’s is an example of a professionally family run company.
With consistent quality, customer relevance edified with Ready-2-Eat and
Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food served with a family friendly focus works.
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information and inspiration. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has
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at Steven Johnson www.FoodserviceSolutions.us Contact the Grocerant Guru® directly
at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us
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