Dance the Chicken Delight flexi – Used 7"

G+

This record is clearly from mid to late 1960s, based on the sounds, and the go-go boots.  The song is instrumental, some elements like the piano ringing back to an earlier time but mostly and clearly from those freak-out years (1965 -1966), with cool fuzz guitar.  It sounds like early 1966.

I couldn't date it, but found these comments:

"My Pastor has a copy of this. It was offered for free at the Seattle Teen Fair sometime in 1966. He said, 'I took three, but wore two of them out before I was able to get a tape recorder and listen to it that way!'  ["The Seattle Teen Fairs aka "Teen Spectaculars" were held at the Coliseum in 1966 & '67. Organized by Pat O'Day & KJR, the fairs featured merchandise, displays, and live sets by new local bands during the daytime and more established acts at night."]

"I've got one of these stored in my 45rpm record case. My copy actually came from purchasing a bucket of chicken from a Chicken Delight in St. Louis, MO, circa 1967-'68 at the age of 10. The record had to be cut from the bottom of the bucket with scissors. I always thought the guitarist might be or at least sounded like Duane Eddy. "

(I like the bottom of a chicken bucket story, and it makes since because I cut records from cereal boxes as a kid, but...first of all, wouldn't the record get all greasy, and secondly, the edge is so clean, not looking like it was cut out.  Maybe it was attached to the bottom, on the outside of the bucket so it wouldn't get greasy...who knows.)

"I just bought a copy yesterday from a 70 year old man who worked at chicken delight in 1965 and that's when he got his copy. sorry this is not from the late 60s or early 70s. also my copy may have come with buckets of chicken but it has not been cut out, it's perfectly round around the edges."

"In SoCal, Chicken Delight preceded KFC for fried chicken take-out, and their big hook was that they delivered until 3AM! I don't recall the cardboard record, but it sounds like something they would do! Chicken Delight was parodied by the Firesign Theatre on their earliest albums."

"Chicken Delight's marketing was built around its home delivery and take-out model, which was a novel concept when the chain was founded in 1952. The chain emphasized household convenience rather than taste or price and targeted the growing number of women working outside the home in the post-Korean War era.  The jingle "Don't Cook Tonight, Call Chicken Delight" was widely broadcast on American and Canadian radio and television during the 1960s, becoming one of the best-known advertising phrases in North American fast food. The slogan was registered as a trademark in 1962. Under Koch's stewardship of the revived Canadian operation, the chain adopted a secondary slogan, "One Call Takes Care Of It All." In 1960, the company ran a promotional contest offering a complete franchise store, a year's supplies, a delivery truck, and a trip to Moscow as prizes, drawing more than 54,000 entries. The contest was conceived as a direct response to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's assertion during his 1959 U.S. visit that there was "no place in the United States for small business," with Tunick intending the winning franchisee's trip to promote American small business enterprise. Chicken Delight franchises operated cars topped with large chicken figures to promote home delivery, with the "Chickmobile" name trademarked in 1966. One such vehicle, a modified 1958 Ford Thunderbird convertible with a hand-built fiberglass body created in California in the late 1960s, served as a promotional vehicle for the chain in San Francisco before Otto Koch purchased it and shipped it to Winnipeg in 1976, where it was used for local promotions until 1995."

"Founded in Rock Island, Illinois in 1952, Chicken Delight among the earliest fast-food franchise chains in North America, growing to nearly 800 locations by the mid-1960s, and is notable both for its early role in North American fast-food franchising and the antitrust case Siegel v. Chicken Delight. The 1971 Ninth Circuit ruling, which held that the chain's practice of conditioning the franchise trademark license on franchisees' exclusive purchase of supplies from the franchisor constituted an illegal tying arrangement under the Sherman Antitrust Act, became a landmark case in American franchise law. The U.S. operation collapsed in the early 1970s following the antitrust litigation, competitive pressure from KFC, and the breakdown of the franchise revenue model, but Chicken Delight continues to operate in Canada. The Canadian chain, established as a legally distinct entity in 1958, continues as the present-day Winnipeg-based operation. Chicken Delight is a chain of restaurants offering eat-in, take-out, and delivery service with a menu featuring chicken, pizza, and ribs. Based in Winnipeg, the chain operates outlets primarily in that city and throughout Manitoba, with one location in Alberta. Several additional restaurants operating under the Chicken Delight name are located in the New York metropolitan area, but these operate independently of the corporate chain and are not listed on the corporate website."

"Chicken Delight was founded on February 28, 1952 by Abraham L. "A.L." Tunick, an entrepreneur based in Rock Island, Illinois, who would later serve as the first chairman of the National Franchise Association. In 1950, Tunick, who operated a wrecking company, purchased the bankrupt Deacon Products Co. of Rock Island, which manufactured a specialized conduction cooker. Tunick had intended to dismantle the plant, but was persuaded by Deacon to witness a demonstration of the cooker's ability to fry chicken, and was impressed. Having failed to sell the cooker on the appliance market, he leased a storefront on 18th Avenue in Rock Island and, working with his family, began selling take-out chicken dinners, which was a novel concept at the time. He developed a method of coating chicken in spiced breading and deep-frying it quickly. According to Roald Tweet of WVIK, Tunick's method made fried chicken practical as a fast-food item for the first time. Although the venture lost money in its first three years, Tunick bought out his associates who urged bankruptcy and ultimately paid all creditors from earnings. He subsequently developed the Chicken Delight franchise model around the cooker. The franchise contract Tunick developed was used by the Small Business Administration as a model for the franchise industry. The chain grew from its single Rock Island location to 86 franchises in 23 states by its fifth anniversary in 1957, 164 outlets by 1960, and more than 400 in 47 states, Canada, Puerto Rico and Australia by 1963. When Tunick sold the business to Consolidated Foods — a Chicago-based conglomerate whose other brands included Sara Lee, Shasta, Popsicle, and Booth — in 1965, the chain had approximately 650 outlets, growing to 687 by August of that year and nearly 800 by April 1966. Retail sales exceeded $80 million in 1966 ($794 million in 2025 dollars). Tunick remained as president until mid-1967, by which time the chain had approximately 750 franchises in 44 states. The chain used slogan, "Don't Cook Tonight, Call Chicken Delight," across North America, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s its mascot was a chicken with a chef's hat holding a plate of biscuits."