The first 50 through the door at 32 W. Adams St. won free KFC for a year and there were other giveaways throughout the day.

Glen Flewelling, owner of Lucky Dining Inc., said he was proud to bring KFC back to Iron River. Flewelling said he chose to reopen the Iron River KFC because his mother, Kristine (Wercinski) Flewelling, is from Iron River and he wanted to bring more dining options to the community.

“We figured this would be a great spot to see if we could revitalize KFC in this town, give the town something to think about,” Flewelling said. “… We are a national brand, so we will be open seven days a week.”

Lucky Dining is based in downstate Howell and owns 11 KFC franchises, including the restaurant in Houghton.

THE REOPENED KFC at 32 W. Adams St. in Iron River. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)

Director of Operations Aaron Humphrey said Lucky Dining is proud to be a part of the community.

“One of the things that is important to us, especially taking over from a family-owned business, is our business is family owned and operated, also,” Humphrey said. “Glen (Flewelling) is my father-in-law. My wife, his wife, we all work for the company. We are in our stores and we want to be involved in the communities that we are in.”

Flewelling added that as a way of giving back to the community, no member of law enforcement ever pays for a meal when they come to one of his restaurants.

The building on Adams Street had been empty since 2020, after longtime owners Ron and Rene Carlson retired. After four years the building needed work, so it has undergone a complete makeover inside and out.

The whole construction project was done in only five months but not soon enough for an eager town.

“Everybody on Facebook wanted us to open yesterday,” Flewelling said. “The first day we were here doing demolition people were already asking us when we would be open.”

The Iron River KFC employs 30 people and Flewelling said they would still like to hire up to 10 more. Some of the new hires traveled to the Houghton KFC to train and some of the Houghton employees came down to help out with the opening.

For the employees, opening day was a trial by fire.

“We do not believe in soft openings,” Flewelling said. “We just go hard and what is going to happen is going to happen, like pulling a Band-Aid off.”

The grand opening offered almost all of the old favorites. One item that did not return is popcorn chicken, but Flewelling said in its place are fresh hand-breaded nuggets.

“If they have not had KFC in four years, they are going to be surprised how good it tastes and what they were missing,” Flewelling said. “It has a crave-able taste. When we fire everything up, you can smell the original recipe.”

Flewelling said while KFC would like Lucky Dining to open a franchise in Iron Mountain, they plan to take a breather once the Iron River location is up and running. He added that Lucky Dining had looked at the possibility of adding an Iron Mountain location but so far have been unable to make a deal on property.

KFC is open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

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The Daily News plans to highlight some of the new business owners in the region. Know of a business that recently opened or changed hands? Contact Jim Paul at 906-774-2772, ext. 229, or jpaul@ironmountaindailynews.com.