Sisters Chicken & Biscuits: Remembering Fried Chicken and Famous Biscuits
Sisters Chicken & Biscuits was a Columbus-rooted restaurant chain closely connected with Wendy’s. Explore its beginnings, memorable biscuits, distinctive buildings, and disappearance from Central Ohio’s restaurant scene.
Opening
Long after Sisters Chicken & Biscuits disappeared, its buildings still helped people recognize where it had been.
In a CityScene retrospective, Columbus Historical Society executive director Jeff Lafever pointed to the restaurants’ distinctive architecture. Slanted roofs and covered porches left recognizable traces even after other businesses moved in. The article also singled out the biscuits as a lasting customer memory.
That combination—familiar food and familiar buildings—helps explain Sisters’ place in Columbus nostalgia.
The chain was closely connected with Wendy’s, but it offered its own identity centered on chicken and biscuits. Wendy’s sold the business in 1987, and local historical reporting places its eventual disappearance in the early 1990s.
At a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Place | Sisters Chicken & Biscuits |
| Also known as | Sisters Chicken and Biscuits; Sisters |
| Historical location | Columbus and surrounding Central Ohio communities, with locations elsewhere |
| Category | Fast-food chicken restaurant |
| Opened/established | Developed in the late 1970s; local historical accounts place the first Columbus opening around 1980 |
| Closed/disappeared | Locations closed over time; CityScene lists 1994 |
| Current status | Historical chain no longer operating under its original identity |
| Remembered for | Fried chicken, biscuits, slanted roofs, covered porches, and its Wendy’s connection |
Published accounts differ on the founding year. Some give 1978, while a more detailed local chronology describes development in 1979 and a restaurant opening after a year of testing. These dates may refer to different stages of the business.
How It Began
Sisters’ origins were tied to restaurateur James W. “Jim” Near.
Near had operated successful Wendy’s franchises before selling them back to the company in 1978. A company-history account connects him with establishing Sisters as a way to expand beyond Wendy’s hamburger business. Sisters became a Wendy’s subsidiary in 1981.
Columbus Restaurant History provides a more detailed opening chronology. It describes Wendy’s asking Near in 1979 to develop an upscale chicken-and-biscuits concept, followed by testing and the first Columbus restaurant.
The result was a separate restaurant identity built around a different meal. Customers knew Wendy’s for hamburgers; Sisters offered chicken and biscuits.
What Made It Special
The biscuits became its strongest memory
The name placed biscuits alongside chicken, giving both products a central role.
Years after the restaurants closed, CityScene identified the biscuits as the food people particularly remembered. That is a retrospective assessment rather than a measured customer survey, but it captures the chain’s place in local nostalgia.
For a former customer, a biscuit can be a more immediate reminder than a company timeline. Food connects a restaurant with the people, occasions, and routines surrounding a visit.
Recognizable restaurant buildings
Sisters also had a visual identity.
Its slanted roofs and covered porches helped distinguish the restaurants from more conventional fast-food buildings. Lafever’s comments in CityScene describe how those features remained recognizable after reuse.
The architecture matters to the chain’s history because it left physical clues. A restaurant name can disappear while parts of the building remain.
A presence across Central Ohio
Sisters was more than one remembered storefront.
Columbus Restaurant History documents addresses on South High Street, West Broad Street, Henderson Road, and West Fifth Avenue, along with locations in Westerville and Reynoldsburg.
Those locations gave different neighborhoods their own Sisters memories. One family might remember a West Side stop, while another associates the chain with a restaurant closer to home in Reynoldsburg.
A different chapter in Wendy’s history
The Wendy’s connection makes Sisters especially interesting.
It demonstrates how an established hamburger business explored another restaurant category through a separate brand. Near later became a key leader in Wendy’s turnaround, connecting Sisters’ story with a larger chapter in the company’s development.
The Final Chapter
Wendy’s sold the business in 1987
In February 1987, Wendy’s announced plans to sell Sisters to SIS Corporation of Cleveland, a franchisee operating 20 Sisters restaurants in Northeast Ohio.
UPI reported the announcement alongside Wendy’s $4.9 million loss for 1986. The article placed the sale within the company’s broader effort to address disappointing results.
The sale ended Wendy’s ownership. It did not mean every Sisters restaurant immediately closed.
The restaurants disappeared gradually
Local records show different closing years for individual locations.
Columbus Restaurant History lists the Tussing Road restaurant as closing in 1992 and the 4310 West Broad Street location in 1993. CityScene gives 1994 as the chain’s closing year in its retrospective.
These records support a gradual ending. They do not establish one identical closing date for every restaurant.
A complete explanation of a particular location’s closure would require additional contemporary reporting or business records. The available sources establish the ownership change and disappearance more clearly than the final operating decisions.
What’s There Now?
Former Sisters properties followed different paths.
Columbus Restaurant History records later restaurant uses at several addresses, including the former South High Street and East Livingston Avenue locations. It also documents demolition at the former Riverside Drive site in 2013.
These are historical observations. They do not establish the current occupant of every property.
For a present-day location profile, the address should be checked against current business information, property records, and dated photographs. Surviving rooflines and porches may help identify a building, but they need supporting evidence.
Current-site verification: No individual former Sisters property has been independently verified for this overview as of October 12, 2026.
Do You Remember Sisters Chicken & Biscuits?
Was it the chicken or the biscuits that kept your family coming back? Which Sisters location did you visit, and approximately what year was it?
Share your memories in the comments.
If you have an old menu, advertisement, restaurant photograph, receipt, or employee keepsake, tell Forgotten Spots about it. Please include any known dates and whether you own the material or have permission to share it.
Your contribution could help fill gaps in the history of a restaurant that remains part of Central Ohio’s collective memory.
Sources and Credits
- Columbus Restaurant History — Sisters Chicken & Biscuits: Local historical overview.
- Columbus Restaurant History — Archived chain histories: Detailed development chronology, former addresses, and later property uses.
- Columbus Restaurant History — Database: Location records and selected opening or closing years.
- Encyclopedia.com — Wendy’s International Inc.: Jim Near’s involvement, subsidiary status, and ownership history.
- UPI — Wendy’s posts 1986 loss, to sell Sisters subsidiary: Contemporary reporting on the 1987 sale announcement.
- CityScene — Repast from the Past: Biscuit memories, architecture, and retrospective closing date.