Chicken sandwich mania at Popeye’s
Big crowds, long waits and my personal take
The food world is going cuckoo over Popeye’s new chicken sandwich, and South Floridians are flocking to the fast-food chain to try the hot and crunchy treat. I ate the classic and spicy versions of the $3.99 sandwich— hefty fried breasts on brioche buns with pickles— at two locations thisweekend, but before I get to the critiquing, I’m still marveling at the crowds, the waits and the overall insanity.
Nowonder reigning chicken sandwich king Chick-fil-Ais nervous.
“Everyone’s curious— it’s become the thing to do,” Carol James, of Pompano Beach, said Sunday as she waited in a drivethrough line 25 cars long at the Popeye’s on East Commercial Boulevard in Oakland Park.
“Today’s my cheat day so here I am,” said Isabella Clarke, of Fort Lauderdale.
“It’s crazy— we just waited an hour and15 minutes,” Johnny Pierre, of Miramar, said as his 14-year-old son Jomany proudly stood with a sack of sandwiches Sunday outside the Popeye’s on State Road 7 in Hollywood.
Nearly twoweeks after its Aug. 12 debut, fueled by social-media buzz and widespread praise, the Popeye’s chicken sandwich has triggered a growing stampede that shows no sign of abating. Big crowds, long waits and supply shortages have become the new normal at Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, a fried-chicken haven with New Orleans roots, 23 South Florida locations and 3,100 stores nationwide.
“It’s blowing up on Instagram,” Jomany Pierre said. “All the hype — I had to try it.”
A slow go for fast food
I waited 61minutes formy sandwiches at the Hollywood Popeye’s on Saturday, where crowds thronged the front counter and I counted 50 cars in the drivethrough line at 2 p.m. My wait on Sunday in Oakland Park was a more manageable 30 minutes, but therewere moments of concern when the lone cashier left the counter unattended for 20 minutes to help co-workers assemble orders.
Every day it seems more people are lining up at Popeye’s. On Saturday, a friend called to say that the Pembroke Pines Popeye’s had
run out of sandwiches, with a hapless worker carrying a cardboard sign informing irate drivethrough customers. Cops were summoned to cordon off the parking lot with yellow police tape.
Sunday was more of the same. The Hollywood location opened a half-hour late as workers unloaded a delivery of 100 cases, some 8,000 sandwiches. One worker told me the store served1,000 sandwiches in a five-hour span Saturday. The Pembroke Pines location had a police officer directing traffic. The Oakland Park location still had sandwiches butwas out of lemonade, cole slaw and soft drink cups after getting bombarded all weekend.
Is the Popeye’s chicken sandwich good? Yes.
Is any chicken sandwich worth an hour wait? No.
Is the Popeye’s chicken sandwich better than rival Chick-fil-A’s? It’s complicated. And subjective. But at this point, because of inconsistency and inefficiencies, I say no.
“I’ve been waiting 45 minutes— that’s not fast food!” a frustrated man shouted to nobody in particular at the Oakland Park location at lunchtime Sunday.
Southern showdown
Chick-fil-A-gets crowded, too. But the chain has its logistics down pat, with expediters in headsets taking orders in parking lots and lines moving swiftly in stores. There are other fast-food chicken sandwiches in the land vying for supremacy and relevance (Wendy’s, Shake Shack) but Chick-fil-Ais Popeye’s Southern cousin. Their sandwiches have similar, simple styles: battered fried breasts with pickles on buns. (I also ate a Chick-fil-Asandwich in the past week.)
Popeye’s is a hulking sandwich, with a thick toasted brioche bun and a big, plump breast with thick batter and crevices as craggy as the Maine coastline. It also has thick pickles, more garlicky than sweet, and comes with default condiments: regular mayonnaise on the classic, spicy remoulade on the spicy.
Chick-fil-A’s breasts are a bit smaller, more genteel and refined, with a thinner, flavorful coating that gets a boost from MSG and a soft, thinner bun that gets a little mushy in its foil-wrapped pouch. The pickles are a bit sweet. The sandwich comes unadorned, with DIY condiments (packets of mayonnaise and hot sauce are available).
Chick-fil-A’s sandwich is awarm hug fromyour judgmental, old-fashioned aunt. It has its faults but lands like a gentle, sweet kiss. Except on Sunday. The lady’s got to go to church.
Popeye’s sandwich is a heavyweight contender strutting into the ring, egging on the crowd with raised gloves, cocksure and a little too full of itself before wearing a championship belt.
It’s got heft. It’s got crunch. It should pack a punch.
But the Popeye’s pair I tried on Saturday were bland and almost overwhelmed by batter and bun. The breasts were big and juicy in the center, dry around the edges. On some bites all I detected was bread and batter. I think workers were so harried they forgot to throw on seasoning. They didn’t come in foil pouches that I’d read about, only wrapped in paper and thrown in a bag.
The Popeye’s sandwiches I had on Sunday were better, juicier and more flavorful throughout, with more noticeable seasoning and salt. They came in foil pouches. Thiswas the stuff that critics and the social media universe was crowing about. But I still had concerns about overall balance. The batter was so crunchy, so pronounced, that bread is almost superfluous. I’d rather have these fried beauties over waffles (not an option) or over Popeye’s Cajun “dirty” rice (spiced rice with crumbled bits of ground meat) instead of a sandwich.
Another surprise: I expected spicy coating on the spicy sandwich, but both classic and spicy used the same batter. The spice came entirely fromthe remoulade spread, which was too thin onmy first visit.
In the head-to-head matchup, I give Chick-fil-A’s classic the nod. It’s better proportioned and balanced, with notes of sweet and salt. The bun and coating are supporting players, not stage hogs.
But Popeye’s has two big edges in the showdown. Its chicken sandwich is available seven days. Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, because the churchgoing family that founded it honors the Christian sabbath. And Popeye’s gives an alternative to those who are reluctant to patronize Chick-fil-A-because of its founder’s politics, which
includes support and funding to groups opposed to civil rights for the LGBTQ community.
A viral hit
Consumer mania is a strange, unpredictable thing. We’ve seen it before when hot brands open new locations— think Krispy Kreme or Wawa— or Apple starts selling a new iPhone. But I don’t knowif we’ve ever seen anything like the viral obsession over the chicken sandwich at Popeye’s. A fast-food chain thatwas almost an afterthought has instantly become the hottest restaurant in town.
“I’m here because ofmy son, he sent me because of all the memes,” said Evy Anise, of Pembroke Pines, as she pulled up to the drive-through line in Hollywood. “He loves Chickfil-Aand hewants to see if this is better. But I’m not waiting an hour. I’ve got better things to do today. I’ll come back when it dies down.”
Workers at the Oakland Park location seemed dazed and confused at lunch Sunday, looking like Lucy and Ethel trying to keep up with the conveyor belt at the chocolate factory in the famous “I Love Lucy” episode.
“The wait was like two hours here on Friday— carswere backed up on Commercial all theway past the railroad tracks,” Jim Wilson, of Fort Lauderdale, said at the Oakland Park location Sunday. “If I told my wife I waited two hours for a chicken sandwich she’d say, ‘Yeah right, a likely story.’ She’d think I was off visiting a girlfriend.”
Popeye’s is now operated by Restaurant Brands International (RBI), the same conglomerate that owns Burger King and Tim Hortons doughnuts. I sent an email to RBI’s media relations department Sunday about the issues triggered by the growing demand at Popeye’s, but didn’t hear back.
I bet they’re out finding more chicken. Reinforcements would be nice, too.