Local fast food chain Chickn4U is no longer, after owner John Bushman sold both of the restaurant’s locations to the owners of Super Pollo Monday.
This sale represents the first major expansion for Super Pollo, a Mexican restaurant with locations in Andrews and Seminole, and a history of more than 50 years in both Mexico and multiple states in the U.S.
Owners Andy and Eidy Martinez, 27-year-old twin brothers, said the deal was finalized after more than two month of negotiations that started when one of their long-time customers, and an associate of Bushman’s, came to their store in Andrews to talk about purchasing the Chickn4U locations, located at 4101 Billy Hext Rd. and 722 N. Lee Ave.
“We knew we were going to come somewhere down here on 191, but we didn’t know it was going to be this soon because our plan was to go to Midland first,’ Andy Martinez said. “We are really pleased how Mr. Bushman took this offer from us and he helped us.”
Matt Rist, the spokesman for ICA, Bushman’s company, did not respond to a request for comment, but Andy Martinez said Bushman sold them the company due to fast food not being the market they were interested in.
“He said it’s too much work, too much hours,” he said. “They’d rather be focusing themselves on real estate and other stuff they’re good at.”
Odessa has no shortage of chicken restaurants as is, from Bush’s Chicken to Chicken Express to Popeye’s, they’re nearly impossible to miss. What separates Super Pollo, they said, is they serve charbroiled chicken, from a recipe used by their grandfather, Mauricio “Wicho” Martinez, in Mexico more than 50 years ago. They also serve ribs, tacos, burgers, quesadillas, sausage, brisket and will still serve the chicken sandwiches sold by Chickn4U.
The Martinez brothers were both born to Mexico, working in their parents’ grocery store from an early age, where they first learned how to work.
“We were putting bananas and apples on the counters by 5 years old, that’s how we grew up,” Andy Martinez said. “No babysitting, nothing.”
They didn’t have any weekends off growing up, and said their work ethic came early. When they graduated from Seminole High School in 2010, Andy Martinez said their father, Gaspar Martinez, gave them the choice of going to college or staying and running a business, and they chose to stay.
“This is what makes us,” Eidy Martinez said. “If it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t be here.”
That continues to this day, as they also own a few RV parks and a beer barn. Andy Martinez also has trucks doing contract work in the oilfield, and Eidy Martinez has several catering trucks, serving food at oilfields in locations like Pecos and Orla.
They first immigrated from Mexico to Nebraska when they were 7 years old. Their father had started Super Pollo in Mexico in 1966, and continued the business in Nebraska in an RV-turned-kitchen. They moved the business a few more times through Kansas, then to Clovis, N.M., before settling in Seminole.
The Martinez brothers say both locations will be opening soon, the Billy Hext location in about three weeks and the Lee Avenue location in about two weeks. They also said they still plan on expanding to Midland, and plan to break ground in the next few months.
