History
Harold Pierce (August 11, 1917 - March 8, 1988) was an African-American entrepreneur who founded the successful Harold's Chicken Shack restaurant chain in Chicago. Pierce was born in Midway, Alabama and moved to Chicago in 1943 from Freemanville, Alabama to work as a chauffeur for Jack Stern, a furniture store owner. By 1950, he was running a small restaurant with his wife, Hilda, on 39th Street. The H & H specialized in chicken feet and dumplings. Pierce thought that he could adapt his recipe for fried chicken, and a friend, Gene Rosen, who ran a poultry shop nearby, offered him some chickens to experiment with. The resultant recipe caused Pierce to open Harold's Chicken Shack at 47th and Greenwood in 1950.
Specialties
Harold's has been a Chicago South Side institution for many years and is known for its uniquely prepared chicken. Harold's (short for Harold's Chicken Shack), is considered by many, to be