Board Member

Eddie Sheldrake

CEO
Polly's Inc.

 

Background Information

Eddie Sheldrake is a member of the KFC Chef's Council and of the KFC National Council and Advertising Cooperative (NCAC). He is a 1951 graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles with a teaching degree.

Company Profile

Polly's Inc. is a successful, still-growing restaurant company that treasures and nourishes its heritage of integrity, quality, and value in respect to its relationships with its customers, team members, suppliers, and landlords. The company's long-standing mission statement is, "We are committed to making people glad they chose Polly's."

The beginnings, in 1965, occurred when brothers Donald and Eddie Sheldrake opened the first freestanding KFC restaurant in Southern California, in a part of Long Beach called Belmont Shores. Within just four years, the company was operating eight KFC restaurants. This early success provided opportunities for growth, and in 1968 the company opened its first "Polly's" in a small strip mall in Fullerton. The little restaurant served fresh pies and coffee to customers out front, while back in the kitchen an energetic combination of owners and young staffers baked dinner rolls and prepared cole slaw for the company's KFC restaurants. And all the while the ovens produced, then as now, the best pies in town.

Now, Polly's Bakery Cafes are full-service, family-dining restaurants with a reputation for using brand name ingredients in menus that range from classic American to delicious Hawaiian. Eddie Sheldrake continues to play a key role in the seasonal purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Today, Polly's Inc. consists of 16 KFC restaurants and 15 Polly's Bakery Cafe restaurants in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Riverside counties in California.