BK IN CHICK FLICK

Blows off Popeyes

Don’t expect Burger King to be frying Popeyes’ chicken.

Restaurant Brands, the parent of Burger King and Tim Hortons, was in talks with Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen a few months ago, but walked away from the deal when the stock price rose, making any deal too expensive, a source close to the situation said.

The shares of Popeyes spiked as much as 14.7 percent on Monday to a new 52-week high after Reuters reported that 3G Capitalcontrolled Restaurant Brands was in talks with the Atlanta-based chicken chain about a possible acquisition.

Popeyes shares closed Monday at $70.82, up 7.2 percent, giving it a market cap of $1.5 billion.

But the talks, carried out in October and November, according to sources familiar with the matter, broke off after the chicken chain’s strong third-quarter results, released Nov. 9, lifted its shares nearly 10 percent.

That made the chain too expensive, the source said.

Popeye’s shares have only gotten pricier since.

While it is possible the two sides have rekindled talks, it is doubtful any deal will be done, the source said.

“There are windows in time when mergers happen,” a second source close to the situation said, declining to provide more detail, suggesting that the time for this merger has passed.

Restaurant Brands is still interested in adding a new concept, sources said.

“I know they want to acquire additional restaurant concepts,” a source at Restaurant Brands told The Post.

“That was the fundamental reason they created this umbrella company Restaurant Brands [in December 2014],” the source noted.

3G Capital wants a brand that is well represented in America but not globally, and which does not compete with Burger King or Tim Hortons, sources said.

Possibilities include pizza, Mexican and chicken concepts, the Restaurant Brands source said.

Restaurant Brands has recently said it is comfortable adding leverage that gives it the ability to spend up to $2 billion on acquisitions, Bloomberg reported.

Popeyes and Restaurant Brands said separately that they do not discuss market rumors.