Zankou Chicken, the beloved chicken micro chain with less than 20 locations throughout Los Angeles, is expanding to Long Beach.
The company’s newest location will move to the corner of Lakewood Boulevard and Willow Street, near Starbucks, according to a recent social media post. Although an exact opening date has yet to be determined, the company has replied to a few comments on Instagram, saying they are hoping to open the new location in January or February 2023. Zankou Chicken was once a fast-growing family-owned business, but the families have split the remaining locations following tragedy.
Zankou Chicken was founded in Beirut in 1962 by Armenian couple Vartkes and Markrid Iskenderian. As the Lebanese civil war continued, the couple left their home and landed in Los Angeles, where they re-opened Zankou on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in 1984, eventually expanding to 20 locations. Then, in 2003, 11 years after the death of Vartkes, the eldest son, Mardiros Isekenderian, shot and killed his mother, sister (Dzovig Marjik), and himself, causing an impending riff in the company.
Now, there are two factions of Zankou Chickens with two different websites and separate social media accounts. On one side is Mardiros’ wife, Rita, who operates 12 locations throughout Southern California and will be in charge of the new Long Beach location. Then there are the children of Dzovig Marjik, who operate three locations with a new site coming to Thousand Oaks soon. Despite the tragedy, the separated families have been able to keep the business alive all these years with the help of the restaurant’s delicious food, including wraps, kabobs and tri-tip shawarma, and most importantly, its rotisserie chicken.
