A sign for a Kennedy Fried Chicken franchise went up at an Indian Orchard pizza shop, but came down again after gaining the attention of city officials.
A city inspector ordered the owner of Town Pizza, 459 Main St., to shut down because he had failed to obtain permits to open a Kennedy Fried Chicken at that location.
Town Pizza owner Mohammad Iftikhar, of Springfield, said in an interview at the shop in the Save-A-Lot Plaza, that he had hung a Kennedy Fried Chicken sign on the restaurant because he is in the process of getting approval to run an outlet of the franchise.
License Commission Chairman Peter L. Sygnator said he was reading a Springfield forum on masslive.com during the weekend when he saw an item about a Kennedy Fried Chicken in Indian Orchard.
He knew the License Commission hadn’t issued a food service license to allow a Kennedy Fried Chicken there, he said.
He contacted Helen R. Caulton-Harris, director of the Office of Health and Human Services. She dispatched an inspector yesterday who quickly learned no health inspection had been done to permit a Kennedy Fried Chicken there.
The name of the chain snaps officials to attention after a Jan. 1 multiple shooting at the former Kennedy Fried Chicken on Main Street downtown. The gunfire left an 18-year-old man dead and five others injured.
Caulton-Harris said it was unclear whether Town Pizza has all of the permits and licenses it needs to be in business, though Iftikhar said he does have those permits.
Even so, Caulton-Harris said, the posting of a sign for another restaurant without contacting the city means a review is in order.
“Once they come in for a license, it’ll get a very critical review,” she said.
By MIKE PLAISANCE for The Republican