IndUS Business Journal:
Aslam Khan is the perfect example of the American dream. He came to the United States over two decades ago, started at the bottom with a company and now has risen to a very successful ownership position with the business.
The Pakistan native was 32 years old when he came to Los Angeles in the late 1980s and took a job washing dishes at a Church’s Chicken restaurant.
Khan called his early work with the chain “survival mode.†Coming from a very poor upbringing in a remote village in Pakistan, Khan was one of nine children. His parents were farmers, but Khan left home in his early teens to live in the city and pursue an education. He got a job at a bakery and was able to pay his way through public school, including graduating from college. According to him, his move to America was a way of continuing to follow his path of improving his lot in life.
Khan spent 15 years working his way up with Church’s Chicken, reaching a management position and also putting his expertise with the chain to work in the late 1990s, helping a 48-unit franchise in California turn business around out of bankruptcy in less than a year.
This experience turned out to be very beneficial for Khan because several years later he had the opportunity to acquire the holdings of another struggling Church’s Chicken franchisee and armed with the knowledge that he could turn things around he secured $8 million in equity to buy 100 Church’s Chicken stores in the Midwest.
