Church’s Texas Chicken® Appoints Roland Gonzalez as New Chief Executive Officer to Lead Legendary Brand’s Next Phase of Global Growth

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Church’s Texas Chicken® Appoints Roland Gonzalez as New Chief Executive Officer to Lead Legendary Brand’s Next Phase of Global Growth

2025-02-21 20:03 Last Updated At：20:10

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 21, 2025--

Church’s Texas Chicken®, one of the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chains in the world, has named Roland Gonzalez as its new Chief Executive Officer. With a wealth of experience in the global quick-service restaurant industry, Gonzalez will lead the legendary brand’s next phase of global growth and evolution, having played a key role in its transformation over the last two years as Chief Operations Officer. He succeeds Joe Guith, who was named to the post in 2022.

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A highly respected executive with a passion for building and motivating cross-functional teams, Gonzalez brings an extensive track record of driving operational excellence through global business strategies and process improvement, strengthening franchisee partnerships, enhancing guest experiences and expanding brand reach in highly competitive categories and geographic markets. Prior to joining Church’s Texas Chicken®, he held senior leadership roles at major quick-service restaurant brands, including Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes, where he implemented successful global growth strategies and delivered high-impact results across RBI’s portfolio of 20,000+ restaurants.

“Church’s Texas Chicken has made significant strides toward revitalizing its legendary brand by focusing on delivering outstanding, bold-flavored chicken, enhancing service and value to customers and staying true to our community-oriented roots. We thank Joe for being an important part of the first major phase of our transformation as he moves on to his next chapter,” said High Bluff Capital Partners founder Anand Gowda. “Our priority now is to build on this progress and significantly accelerate our momentum and expansion as we strive to reach $2 billion in system sales within the next few years while maximizing franchisee profitability.

“To that end, we are thrilled to welcome Roland Gonzalez as our new CEO – a visionary leader who already has had a tremendous impact on Church’s transformation as COO,” he continued. “His deep understanding of the QSR industry, commitment to growth-focused operational excellence and dedication to driving franchisee profitability make him the ideal leader to guide Church’s through its next major evolution.”

“I am honored to now lead this great brand at a critical inflection point in our growth journey,” said Gonzalez. “With a rich history of quality, bold flavor and being truly invested in the communities we serve, Church’s holds a special place in the hearts of millions. I look forward to working alongside our talented team and valued franchisee partners to drive innovation, enhance our guest experience and expand our footprint globally. We have only begun to scratch the surface of the tremendous opportunity ahead.”

Gonzalez previously held numerous executive positions and key business operations roles including Executive Vice President for Operations at Virtual Dining Concepts and Head of Global Operations Standards and Strategy at Restaurant Brands International.

About Church’s Texas Chicken® / Texas Chicken™

Founded in San Antonio, TX, in 1952 by George W. Church, Church’s Texas Chicken®, along with its sister brand Texas Chicken™ primarily outside of the U.S., is one of the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chains in the world. The brands specialize in Original and Spicy Chicken freshly prepared throughout the day in small batches that are hand-battered and double-breaded, tenders, sandwiches, Honey-Butter Biscuits™ made from scratch and freshly baked and classic, home-style sides all for a great value. Texas Chicken™ and Church’s Texas Chicken® have more than 1,500 locations in 26 countries and global markets and system-wide sales of more than $1.5 billion. For more information about Church’s Texas Chicken®, visit churchstexaschicken.com. For information on Texas Chicken ™, visit texaschicken.com. For information on how to become a Church’s Texas Chicken® Franchisee, visit https://www.churchs.com/franchising/.

Orthodox Easter truce falters as Ukraine says Russia continues drone strikes

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia continued to strike Ukrainian positions with drones after a Kremlin-declared Easter ceasefire took effect on Saturday, a Ukrainian military officer told The Associated Press.

“The ceasefire is not being observed by the Russian side,” said Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade.

He said that while artillery fire had paused in the sector where his brigade was working, at the junction of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian forces continued to use drones to strike Ukrainian positions.

Ukrainian forces were responding with “silence to silence and fire to fire,” Kolesnychenko said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. on Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to abide by the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.

“Easter should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire (at) Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace,” Zelenskyy wrote in an online post on Saturday.

But he added: “We all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.”

Ukraine earlier proposed to Russia a pause in attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday.

Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described Putin’s move as a “humanitarian” gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands — a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.

Hours before the ceasefire was due to begin, Russian drone strikes overnight killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, local authorities reported.

A further two people were wounded in the attack on the Black Sea port city, when drones hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.

The driver of a public trolley bus was killed after the vehicle was struck by a drone in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, less than an hour before the start of the ceasefire, Kherson regional head Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, hours before a proposed Easter ceasefire was due to come into force.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that a prisoner swap Saturday brought home 175 of its soldiers. Zelenskyy confirmed Saturday’s exchange, saying that 175 service members and seven civilians were returned. “Most had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,” he wrote on X.

Hundreds of relatives, clutching photos of missing soldiers, crowded around ambulances and buses carrying returned prisoners of war in northern Ukraine. Many called out names and brigade numbers in hopes of finding loved ones faster.

The crowd, many draped in blue and yellow flags, chanted “We welcome you!” as the weary returnees in blue jackets reached through windows to shake hands and embrace well-wishers. Family also members held up portraits of others still-missing, asking the freed prisoners whether they recognized anyone.

Svitlana Pohosyan was waiting for her son’s return. Asked about the ceasefire, she said: “I want to believe it. God willing, may it be so. We will believe and hope that everything will be fine, that a ceasefire will come on such a holy day, and that there will be peace — peace in Ukraine and peace in the whole world.”

“My celebration will come when my son returns,” she added. “I will hold him in my arms — and that will be the greatest celebration for me. And for every mother, every family.”

Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.

Separately, seven residents of Russia's Kursk region returned from Ukraine on Saturday after they were captured by the Ukrainian army, Russian state media reported. They were greeted at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russia's human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova.

According to Moskalkova, the returnees were the last of those who were taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian army took control of parts of the region in 2024.

Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.

Zhyhinas reported from northern Ukraine. Morton reported from London.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine