Mary Brown's

In 1969, Pat Tarrant and Cyril Fleming purchased rights to open up the first Canadian Golden Skillet fried chicken franchise (originally from Richmond, Virginia) in Newfoundland. The first location was located in St. John's Avalon Mall. However, Tarrant and Fleming were forced to rename the establishment for legal reasons. It was eventually renamed Mary Brown's Virginia Fried Chicken, after Mary Brown Guthrie (1909–1955), the wife of Golden Skillet owner and founder Clifton W. Guthrie. According to the company, Mary Brown, who was from Petersburg, Virginia, was the creator of the chain's proprietary recipe for American Southern-fried chicken; the recipe was sold to Tarrant and Fleming in 1969.

By 1972, Mary Brown's had grown beyond Newfoundland, opening locations in Oshawa and Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area. From there, the chain expanded west to Alberta, throughout the remaining Atlantic Provinces, then to Manitoba and Saskatchewan. More recently, Mary Brown's has opened several locations in British Columbia, and a store in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The brand continues to grow across Canada.

In 2022, Mary Brown's acquired Fat Bastard Burrito, a premium burrito chain founded in 2010 in Toronto, Canada, with at least 92 locations throughout Ontario. In that same year, Mary Brown's was named Company of The Year by Foodservice and Hospitality Magazine.

In 2024, the company opened their first restaurant outside Canada at Lisburn in Northern Ireland exclusively under the abbreviated name MB Chicken; they have opened a second location in Belfast. They also intended to open locations in the rest of the UK, India, Pakistan, and Mexico in 2024. They plan to open another 300 to 400 international locations in the next five years.

Franchises and corporate stores

Mary Brown's currently operates approximately 300 stores within Canada. Mary Brown's has 21 corporate stores. The balance of its stores, about 249, are franchised and located throughout Canada.

Mary Brown's has been a member of the Canadian Franchise Association for over 35 years. The establishment was awarded the Canadian Franchisees’ Choice Award nine years consecutively. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, Mary Brown's was named one of the Best Managed Companies in Canada by Deloitte Canada.

Marketing

The original slogan, which was discontinued in the 1990s, was "Mary Brown has the BEST LEGS IN TOWN!"

Mary Brown's now uses the slogans "Made Fresh from Scratch" and "100% Canadian" in their materials. "Crave Delicious" has become the brand's overriding tagline since mid-2019.