Popeye's Chicken Sandwich (3 Viewers)

[insidejob]

I have great faith in your fast food expertises

Thanks!

I saw a few posts early in the thread wishing that the "spicy" version was actually a spicy breast and not just the mayo, but imagine how long the wait would be if they had to fry all those breasts to order when it already takes them forever with their other spicy chicken. I think going with the spicy mayo is good enough and will prevent waiting an extra 20 minutes for your sandwich, which most people end up appreciating in the long run.

 

[Brennan77]

Ok. I had one today. It's good. It's really good.

 

[zeetes]

choctaw popeyes in br has their sheet together. 5 minutes, piping hot breast (lol). lots of people.

 

[Zack Lee]

I just passed the one on DeGaulle. Even worse. The line is out into DeGaulle and just that portion of the line in the street is 8 deep. Popeyes could get all the advertising they need during traffic reports. I’ll keep y’all posted throughout the weekend. Stay tuned.

 

[RazorOye]

I don't eat at Chick for the food. The food is good but it's the service that keeps me coming back.

see, this seems so foreign to me as a customer -

I don't want to pay for food that's not good. The "service" will get me to come back to a place with good food. But good service isn't going to get me to come back for meh or bad food. And really good food will get me to come back even if service isn't good.

I can't think of one time, ever, where I've been at a restaurant and eaten a totally underwhelming or bad meal and felt satisfied because the waiter was nice and the place was clean. Much less, to go back.

But I can think of a lot of times when I've eaten at a dirty hole in the wall with crappy service and loved the food. And gone back.

Maybe Chick-Fil-A has stumbled on something that people want, then. Serve mediocre chicken but be really nice while doing it and people will come back. And they clearly do.

I am clearly not their target demographic.

My grandmother would slap the hell outta me. Make me kneel on rice for the slightest provocation. But I kept going back to her house... because that rice dressing, man. Damn.

 

[Booker]

The craze is legit. A couple times a month I'll either walk or catch the Colfax bus down to Popeyes for lunch, and usually there are no more than two or three people in line and I'm eating my food within 5-10 minutes.

I went last Thursday, saw the sandwich on the menu and decided to give it a shot instead of my normal three piece. The line might have had four people, so no big deal, nothing too out of the ordinary. But that was before the twitter war.

I went back today. The first thing I noticed as I approached was the drive through line, which wrapped around the parking lot into the street. Inside the line was at least twenty people deep. The workers all looked frazzled ("It's been like this ever since the chicken challenge."). The manager got into an argument with someone who didn't hear his number called out ("We called it, you should have been listening!").

In all it took about a half an hour from the time I walked in until I received my food -- insane.

 

[SystemShock]

Seems this have reached the collective delusion level. It's a freaking fried chicken sandwich.

Last year in my hometown of Mérida, we drove by a billboard announcing the opening of a Krispy Kreme. My youngest immediately pointed it out, said he wanted 2 "taste of America" glazed. My hometown is well known for its sweet breads, pastries,even king cake, but off we went to Krispy Kreme so my son could taste 'Murica... never mind he had had McDonald's and Domino's that same day, and downed them with U.S. Coke (he doesn't like the ones with real sugar).

The line at the Krispy Kreme, we stopped counting at 100, and there was a line of cars outside that went a block and a half down the street. And I am thinking to myself, these are freaking donuts. Go have an hojaldra, for Christ's sake.

And yes, I made the line. Wasn't going to let my boy down... I know, I know...

For the 2 weeks I was there, I drove by the Krispy Kreme a few times, and it was like that every time. And that's because people very much convinced themselves these are the greatest donuts ever, even though the donuts from the local bakeries are as good or better tasting.

And this is what we got here. Kudos to Corporate Marketing.

 

[RazorOye]

And that's because people very much convinced themselves these are the greatest donuts ever, even though the donuts from the local bakeries are as good or better tasting.

And this is what we got here. Kudos to Corporate Marketing.

I'm with you, and I think a lot of this is in fun (for me, anyway, because I haven't even eaten one of these sandwiches) ....

....except fried chicken is a little different - decent fried chicken - isn't really that easy to come by. Sure, I can pan fry it at home. But where I grew up, in SWLA, there weren't a ton of places that did good fried chicken. Not even as good as Popeye's. I could get a good burger - better than McDonald's easily. I could get a good pizza - better than Domino's easily. I could get a donut - better than Krispy Kreme easily. But find fried chicken that was better than Popeye's?

Not so easily, actually.

I think Popeye's legitimately does a good fried chicken - even compared to some other "local" joint, with some legit cred speaking for it

Why Chefs Love Popeyes

And so, I think, in this case the reason the 'marketing' is working is because Popeye's has a good fried chicken. And I'm also with Dave Chang when it comes to his valorization of their red beans and rice. So, people know Popeye's makes good fried chicken (because they do). I don't see the same sort of 'gotta have it!' if, say, Burger King announces a new fried chicken sandwich.

 

[RazorOye]

And now Chick-Fil-A has fired back by thinking outside the box and serving grilled croutons



I mean, what even are these things?

 

[LAhotsauce]

Seems this have reached the collective delusion level. It's a freaking fried chicken sandwich.

Last year in my hometown of Mérida, we drove by a billboard announcing the opening of a Krispy Kreme. My youngest immediately pointed it out, said he wanted 2 "taste of America" glazed. My hometown is well known for its sweet breads, pastries,even king cake, but off we went to Krispy Kreme so my son could taste 'Murica... never mind he had had McDonald's and Domino's that same day, and downed them with U.S. Coke (he doesn't like the ones with real sugar).

The line at the Krispy Kreme, we stopped counting at 100, and there was a line of cars outside that went a block and a half down the street. And I am thinking to myself, these are freaking donuts. Go have an hojaldra, for Christ's sake.

And yes, I made the line. Wasn't going to let my boy down... I know, I know...

For the 2 weeks I was there, I drove by the Krispy Kreme a few times, and it was like that every time. And that's because people very much convinced themselves these are the greatest donuts ever, even though the donuts from the local bakeries are as good or better tasting.

And this is what we got here. Kudos to Corporate Marketing.

But its not just marketing. Every freid chicken sandwich aint the same. If the sandwich was gross this wouldnt be happening. Thats why you had this burger joint craze a few years back.

I finally broke down and went in. Was in and out in 10 minutes even though they were getting slammed.

The one issue I have is Popeyes seems content to work their workers into the ground while this is going on. They are getting slammed, have 2 registers available, yet only one person working one register. At CFA there are multiple registers and usually two people working them with an army in the kitchen area. I'd be interested to see how Popeyes COGS and SGA/revenue compare to CFA.

Anyway good sandwich. Less salty and seems more "premium" than at Chick.

 

[Zack Lee]

....except fried chicken is a little different - decent fried chicken - isn't really that easy to come by. Sure, I can pan fry it at home.

pan frying is actually way better imo for anyone that knows what they are doing. But who wants the kitchen to smell like that. Its great if you have a side burner out back but not when its 90.

Im with you, I mostly just have fun / make fun of the trendy stuff. I definitely do want to try one of these when the price is right - the time price.

If they open at 4am like they do for Mardi Gras I'm in.

 

[Bishop]

I went to see what the fuss was all about, since I've been making Popeyes sandwiches and even chicken noodle soup for a good 20 years now.

I rolled up after work to a line of cars a good 8 deep, which was odd for that Providence location. They didn't post the sign proclaiming the sandwiches to be sold out until cars were deep by the ordering console, so I was trapped and had to order a standard 10 piece with mac & cheese...

 

[RazorOye]

But its not just marketing. Every freid chicken sandwich aint the same.

Yea, and I think the other part to this is the fact that Chick-Fil-A was widely considered to have the best chicken sandwich, and it's alright. But there was no real competition. And so what ends up happening is you have a candidate who has run un-opposed for a really long time finding him/herself up against an opponent.

And the old tired standby looks as old and tired as he/she ever did, but there was no competition. So, now that there is, it's interesting. All of a sudden, it's like, "Wait, THIS is who we've been voting on all this time?"

I'm not ready for it to end

 

[RazorOye]

pan frying is actually way better imo for anyone that knows what they are doing. But who wants the kitchen to smell like that. Its great if you have a side burner out back but not when its 90.

I've been posting a lot of fried chicken, pro-Popeyes propaganda with all this nonsense and I've long since praised their food while up here in Canada (when it wasn't as big as it is now). And someone asked me what *my* recipe was for fried chicken. And I gave them what I do in the pan. But they were looking for how to use their deep fryer. I've actually never fried chicken in one. Fish, fries, oysters, hush puppies, turkey, etc.. tons of stuff. But never chicken.

Im with you, I mostly just have fun / make fun of the trendy stuff. I definitely do want to try one of these when the price is right - the time price.

Yea, I think it's fun.

What I find really interesting, here locally anyway, is whether or not they bring the chicken sandwich to Canadian locations. They haven't yet, so the sandwich is not up here.

But, Chick-Fil-A is opening 15 locations here in the area in the next 5 years. And a lot of people are not happy, while many others are ecstatic. I'm interested to see if Popeye's brings the sandwich up here at a time when these locations begin opening in Toronto. Setting up a second round of this fast food frivolity.

 

[Zack Lee]

The Chic Fil A sandwich is not really good at all. Slightly better than microwaving a tyson frozen breast.

They do have the best advertisement of all time though. language