Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing bonus story of the week.

Today on Forbes, these childhood best friends made billion-dollar fortunes from chicken fingers.

Zach McElroy and Tony Townley became best friends in the seventh grade while growing up around Athens, Georgia.

Then in their late 20s, they decided to go into business together.

The friends each put up $8,000 to open a chicken finger restaurant near the campus of Georgia

Southern University, where Townley had gone to college. They officially opened the first

Zaxby's, or Zax, as it was called then, a play on McElroy's name, in 1990.

More than three decades later, that $16,000 has yielded an unbelievable return.

Townley and McElroy, both now 62 years old, are worth $1.2 billion and $1 billion,

respectively, thanks to the success of Zaxby's.

They're both newcomers on this year's World's Billionaires list, which we published at the beginning

of April. The pair join other food entrepreneurs like Chipotle founder Steve Ells, Jersey Mike's

founder Peter Cancro, and Kava chairman Ron Seish, who are also

first-timers on the list. Headquartered in Athens, Zaxby's is beloved for its wide-ranging

menu of chicken fingers, spelled ending in a Z, wings, and signature sauces. The chain recorded

some $2.5 billion in system-wide sales in 2023.

The latest year data is available, according to Restaurant Analytics Tracker, Technomic.

Zaxby's is smaller than competitors such as Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, which had $21.6 billion

in 2023 sales, and Louisiana's Raising Cains, with $3.7 billion. $3.6 billion in 2023 sales, and Louisiana's Raising Cains with $3.7 billion.

It's also more regional. It's 960 stores are spread across just 18 states, mainly in the U.S.

Southeast. Townley sold his half of the business to Goldman Sachs for nearly $1 billion in 2020.

As part of the deal, he also received more than 140 Zaxby's franchise locations,

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