They famously served up their Louisiana fried chicken at Beyonce and Jay Z’s wedding back in 2008. And now British couples can opt for the same celebrity-endorsed feast at their own wedding reception, after the fried chicken franchise brand Popeyes announced that they are launching a new wedding catering service here in the UK.
Popeyes started life in Louisiana in the 1970s, established by founder Al Copeland as a direct competitor to Kentucky Fried Chicken. The brand began to franchise in 1976 but it’s fair to say that the journey was not always a smooth one, with Copeland Enterprises filing for bankruptcy protection in 1991 after amassing considerable debts in the acquisition of a rival chicken brand called Church’s. The formation of a new parent company America’s Favourite Chicken Company put the business back on track and the company went public in 2001. Popeyes was acquired by Restaurant Brands International (RBI) in 2017 and the chicken brand now has nearly 3000 US locations, the majority of which are franchise owned. It also has around 500 overseas sites, including over 20 here in the UK. Saying that they are “shaking up the UK chicken game, Louisiana style”, Popeyes UK announced earlier this year that they were on track to open 20 more UK locations in 2023.
So, back to the Popeyes wedding banquet offer – a canny marketing ploy or an attempt to build an additional income stream for their franchisees? Whichever it is, the launch of this new service has certainly attracted media attention to the brand which isn’t particularly well known yet this side of the pond. The “Wings and Rings” wedding catering service is apparently a time limited offering, running from August 2023 until later in 2024 and its launch has been heralded with a competition whereby one lucky couple can win the chance to have their wedding catered for for free by Popeyes – as well as a free supply of chicken sandwiches for a full year! Leveraging the lure of free chicken is not a new strategy for the franchise brand – just earlier this month customers reportedly queued for over 14 hours at the launch of a new drive-thru location in Northampton, UK to be in with the chance of winning free chicken for a year as well as other chicken-based giveaways.
Popeyes is well known for its ability to create a buzz. In 2019 its newly relaunched chicken sandwich became the most talked about fast-food item of the year and was said to have “broken the internet” after some savvy interaction with their competitors sparked off “Chicken Sandwich War”. Limited supplies meant that customers were racing to get their hands on the product, which in turn created an even bigger hype on social media. As a result the chicken franchise brand was said to have seen their same-store sales skyrocket by 10.2 percent in the third quarter of 2019.
In the current economic climate, there may well be some British couples keen to snap up a budget-friendly fried chicken feast to feed their wedding guests. And if, with the launch of this offering, Popeyes finds its brand name bandied about more often amongst us Brits then it seems that all parties could be on to a winner – or to coin a well-known and very apt phrase, “winner, winner, chicken dinner”.
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