Church’s Chicken is planning a new restaurant at 2305 Fry Road in Katy, Texas, inside the Fry Road Crossing Shopping Center, with an opening targeted for summer 2027. The project calls for a modern quick-service building with a drive-thru, an outdoor dining patio, and the chain’s updated look and technology.
According to WhatNow Houston, the timeline comes from a permit filed with the state, and the shopping center sits just north of the Katy Freeway (I-10) intersection, within the Mayde Creek and Park Row sub-neighborhoods of Katy and west Houston. A listing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation describes the project as new construction of a Church’s Chicken quick-service restaurant with a drive-thru, an outdoor dining patio, a dumpster enclosure, and associated site improvements.
Beyond the building itself, the company plans to bring in new self-order kiosks and its Real Rewards loyalty program, which awards points on every purchase that can later be redeemed for free menu items. The restaurant is also expected to carry Church’s new 1400 Blaze image building design, the branding template the chain has been rolling out at newer locations.
A Familiar Market, Not a New One
Church’s Chicken senior vice president of company restaurant operations Bill Mitchell said the company sees this as a return rather than a fresh bet. The report notes he said Church’s is returning to a familiar Katy location and that market analytics showed it was an ideal fit. Mitchell added that the company intends to reconnect with the community and bring its chicken, hospitality and value back, framing the opening as part of a broader push to create local jobs and give families and friends a welcoming place to gather.
Houston has become a priority region for the brand. Per the same report, Mitchell called Houston a key growth market for Church’s, and the company has opened seven restaurants in the Houston area over the past two years, including the Katy location. The Fry Road Crossing project is described in the reporting as the chain’s third eatery in Katy once it opens in 2027.
An Uber Eats listing shows a Church’s Texas Chicken location already tied to the 2305 Fry Road address, though Uber Eats shows that listing as closed as of April 3, 2026.
Hiring and a Grand-Opening Block Party
Church’s plans to start posting hiring events for the new location in early May 2027, Mitchell said. Once the restaurant opens, the company intends to throw a grand-opening block party featuring family activities, entertainment, and a chance for attendees to win free chicken for a year.
The Katy project is part of a larger regional build-out. Mitchell said Church’s has planned ten new restaurant openings in Houston, including the Katy location, and the chain has set its sights on five more Houston-area openings in 2027. Texas carries particular weight for the brand, with Mitchell noting its importance stems from the company’s roots in San Antonio nearly 75 years ago.
From a San Antonio Walk-Up Stand to a National Chain
Church’s traces its history to April 10, 1952, when George W. Church Sr. founded Church’s Texas Chicken in San Antonio, opening a walk-up stand called Church’s Fried Chicken-To-Go at 111 S. Alamo Street, across from the Alamo. The original menu offered two pieces of fried chicken and a biscuit for 49 cents, and the chain added french fries and jalapeños to its lineup in 1955.
Today the company features Original Recipe bone-in fried chicken as its signature item, and Mitchell said the brand has brought back Smokehouse Chicken over the past couple of years while introducing boneless wings and flavor rubs that customers can add to any chicken order. Church’s honey-butter biscuits have also picked up the USA Today 10Best Reader’s Choice Award for Best Side, according to Mitchell.
By the numbers shared in the reporting, Church’s operates more than 1,500 locations worldwide across more than 20 countries, with somewhere between 780 and 1,300 restaurants in the United States. Texas alone is said to have nearly 350 Church’s locations, with the greater Houston metropolitan area home to somewhere between 30 and 65 of them. When Mitchell joined the company in 2022, QSR Magazine described Church’s Chicken and Texas Chicken together as one of the largest quick-service restaurant chains in the world.
No construction start date or finished timeline has been independently confirmed beyond the permit filing cited in the original report, and the final opening date for the Fry Road location remains subject to change as the project moves forward.
