One LLC Owns 20 of Chicago's 58 Taco Bells and KFCs
Mert Iseri·
Chicago has 58 licensed Taco Bells and KFCs: 41 Taco Bells, 16 KFCs, and one combined KFC/Taco Bell. We pulled the business license behind every one. On paper the stores belong to 25 legal entities. The city's Business Owners records collapse them to 9 owner groups, and the top three hold 45 of the 58.
20 belong to AG Bells II LLC, every one a Taco Bell. The city's records name the people behind it: Hans Pusch and Howard Scott Silverman. Pusch built Ampler QSR at Agman, the Chicago family office Silverman founded, and Ampler Tacos of Riverwoods, Illinois operates Chicago-area Taco Bells. The link from AG Bells II to the Ampler platform is our inference from those shared names; the two men themselves come straight from the city record.
Michael Kulp, Alan Salts, Barry Dubin; KBP Investments LLC
Lokhandwala family (5 entities)
5
Afzal, Salman, and Suhag Lokhandwala
Sundance Inc.
4
Peter Lyders-Petersen
Albor Restaurant Group, LLC
1
Rob L. Alvarado, Heather L. Alvarado, Jennifer S. Geller; Neil N. Borkan; AC Wisconsin Holdings LLC, NJB Wisco LLC
Buddy Bells, Inc.
1
Nicholas Kallergis
Jalpa Inc
1
Kaushik R. Patel
Shamrock TBC, Inc
1
Dan McGue
Two people, thirteen companies
Diza Tacos Hyde Park, Diza Tacos Lakeview, Diza Tacos Streeterville, and ten more read as thirteen unrelated single-store operators. The owner records collapse them to the same two people: Karim Khowaja and Sanjeev Khatau. The same pair owns a Burger King through Golden Star Hospitality in our Burger King map. Two people, fifteen restaurants, fifteen LLCs, two brands.
The pattern repeats. Afzal Lokhandwala holds four of the city's KFCs through four corporate names: Pratt Chicken, Cicero Addison Chicken, Fullerton Chicken, and Indi Chicken. A fifth entity, Western Bell Inc, holds his one Taco Bell. We call these hidden chains.
25 years of data
The license history goes back to 2001. 74 legal entities have held a Taco Bell or KFC license in Chicago since then:
KFC Corporation: 38 addresses run from corporate, 2001 to 2015. Its last licenses expired March 2018.
FQSR, LLC: first license October 5, 2018. 12 addresses today.
Taco Bell consolidation waves: TEC Foods of Chicago, 12 addresses, 2002 to 2005. QSR Inc, 12, 2001 to 2013. Raheel Foods, 11, 2007 to 2013. Cantina Chicago, 8, 2015 to 2020. Emmangela, 7, 2016 to 2020.
AG Bells II: first license June 2019. It absorbed the addresses of Cantina Chicago, B and B Operations, Bell Great Lakes, and Taco Makers of Illinois on its way to 20.
The KFC handoff is the cleanest story in the file. Corporate-run KFC ends, and FQSR begins in October 2018. FQSR is the operating entity of KBP Brands of Overland Park, Kansas, a franchisee with more than 1,100 KFC, Taco Bell, Arby's, and Sonic units nationally. The footprint shrank along the way: KFC Corporation alone once licensed 38 city addresses, and the whole brand today is 17.
The Diza duo tried KFC too. Four Diza Chicken LLCs took KFC licenses at four South Side addresses in 2023. All four licenses are now cancelled, and none of the four addresses is an active KFC today. Their Taco Bell side kept growing the whole time: Diza Tacos LaSalle licensed in March 2026, Diza Tacos Fullerton in April 2026.
Sources
Ora Google Places sweep: 59 Taco Bell and KFC listings inside city limits, 58 distinct stores after removing one duplicate stub listing.
Chicago's Business Licenses dataset: 58 Taco Bell and KFC addresses actively licensed, each with its legal entity and account number.
The Business Owners dataset, joined on account number: named principals and titles.
Limitations: city limits only, no suburbs; 19 suburban stores sit outside the city's data. City owner titles carry no ownership percentages, and the AG Bells II link to Ampler is an inference from shared principals.
Download the dataset: 58 rows with address, owner entity, named principals, brand, and license dates.
Ora tracks the license filings, transfers, and closures that change this table. Contact us to learn more.
