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| Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits | |
|---|---|
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| Type | owned by AFC Enterprises |
| Founded | New Orleans, Louisiana 1972 |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Key people | Al Copeland, Paul Edelman, Jerome "Pop" Pentsky |
| Industry | Fast food |
| Products | Fried chicken, Cajun foods, biscuits |
| Revenue | $376 Million |
| Slogan | Love That Chicken From Popeyes |
| Website | www.popeyes.com |
Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits (often referred to as Popeyes) is a chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants, owned since 1993 by the Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises (originally the America\'s Favorite Chicken Company). According to a company press release dated June 29, 2007, Popeyes is the second-largest "quick-service chicken restaurant group, measured by number of units"[http://www.popeyes.com/news/news.asp?n=83 "Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits Offers \'A Side of Hope,\' to America\'s Hungry Families", press release, popeyes.com], with more than 1,800 restaurants in more than 40 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 20 countries worldwide including Jordan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Canada, Mexico and Panama. About 30 locations are company-owned, the rest franchised.Hoovers/Dun & Bradstreet: Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits
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Popeyes Mighty Good Fried Chicken first opened in Arabi, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans in 1972 as "Popeye Family Fried Chicken", owned by Al Copeland. Copeland claims he named it after the fictional detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in the movie The French Connection (in turn based on real-life detective Eddie Egan, whose nickname did not derive from the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor). As the company\'s official history states, Copeland sold "traditional mild fried chicken [but] business was slow, and Copeland realized that he\'d have to sell a spicier alternative to his standard chicken recipe if he wanted to impress flavor-seeking New Orleanians.
The chain would later license the namesake cartoon character for use as a promotional tool,[citation needed] which added to the confusion regarding the source of the name, though as of 2006 the company\'s history page on its website omits any mention of the cartoon Popeye, although in Puerto Rico, it is still done. In Puerto Rico, the restaurants use a Popeye\'s (cartoon character) theme.
Copeland began franchising his restaurant in 1976, beginning in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, adding approximately 500 outlets over the next 10 years, followed by 200 more during a period of slower expansion. Copeland became a New Orleans icon due to his flamboyant lifestyle,extravagant weddings, including his eponymous power boat racing teams, and his annual Christmas light show at his mansion located in an upscale neighborhood in Metairie.
In 1989, Popeyes, then the third-largest chicken chain, merged with Church\'s Chicken, the second largest,Church\'s Chicken official website though parent company AFC Enterprises operated the two chains separately. On December 29, 2004, AFC sold Church\'s to Arcapita (formerly Crescent Capital Investments), retaining Popeyes.
On October 30, 2006, AFC announced that Popeyes planned to introduce a trans fat-free biscuit as well as french fries containing one gram of trans fat by year-end.Dow Jones newsire (Oct. 31, 2006): "AFC\'s Popeyes Chicken Plans Low Trans-Fat French Fries", by Richard Gibson
The restaurants have a distinctive red-and-yellow color scheme. TV and radio ads often use New Orleans-style music, along with the trademark Love That Chicken jingle"Love That Chicken" lyrics and audio sung by New Orleans funk and R&B musician Dr. John.
| Year | U.S. | Canada | International | Company-owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 1,324 | 20 | 320 | 95 |
| 2004 | 1,382 | 28 | 347 | 67 |
| 2005 | 1,427 | 28 | 315 | 56 |
| 2006 | 1,459 | 31 | 306 | 50 |
| 2007 | 1,507 | 34 | 276 | 61 |
Source: Entrepreneur.com: Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits
On January 5, 2007, ten Popeyes restaurants in McAllen, Texas, and throughout the Rio Grande Valley suddenly closed down without warning or notification. Popeye\'s corporate office tried to communicate with the franchisee of the restaurants, CVI Company Ltd., but to no avail. It was later discovered that CVI sold all 10 restaurants to Church\'s Chicken, but Popeyes corporate affirmed that it had not been notified, nor had it given permission for the sale. Closing the restaurants was in violation of the local franchisee\'s agreement. The fate of the former locations is still undecided, even though construction crews are working in remodeling the sites.http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=17327&Section=Valley
Popeyes filed a lawsuit against Church\'s Chicken over the sudden buy-out of the 10 Popeyes restaurants. "What Church\'s chose to do, I do believe, was not honest competition", said Jerome "Pop" Pentsky, Chief Executive Officer of AFC Enterprises. The lawsuit is set for $20 million and was filed February 28, 2007. Popeyes accuses Church\'s of "collusion", creating an "intentional, malicious, and tortious scheme" to break a franchise agreement, and using underhanded tactics to discredit Popeyes and steal its customers. Pentsky was quoted in a press conference referring to this scandal as "underhanded, sneaky, and just plain pathetic." News: Popeyes file suit over Churchs\' buyout, church, popeyes, chicken - The Monitor
Popeyes chicken is touted as one of the major attractions of life on earth in the 2000 movie Little Nicky with the title character uttering the famous quote "Popeyes chicken\'s is AWESOME!".
In the TV show Boy Meets World, in almost all of the apartments, there are almost 10 Popeyes Chicken boxes.
Pop singer Beyonce Knowles is said to have a "lifetime membership" to Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits, but she said she has never used it.
Comedian Larry the Cable Guy mentions Popeyes Chicken in the film Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
