Popeyes

[realdocBBQ]

Man that is some seriously ROUGH looking chicken! I hope you were able to post that picture for them to view. Ugh!

[klflowers]

I posted it but the only response i got was to send them the receipt. Disappointing to say the least.

[Carolyn]

I haven't had good Popeye's in a long time. I stopped going there for chicken, but I will get the red beans.

[Bkhuna]

The portions of their sides have shrunk so much they should call it "Red Bean".

[synodog]

There are 3 Popeyes relatively close by depending on what other things we’re doing at the time. My son loves their chicken so we get it when he gets to choose dinner. The one closest to us has been more miss than hit in later years but was good when we first started going there several years ago. The other two are “newer” and have had a better track record so far.
I’d be pissed too if I was served chicken that looked like that.

[HawkerXP]

We used Popeyes for our BSA troop court of honor meals after summer camp.

Sorry to hear.

[texastweeter]

Went to the Popeyes here on the loop a couple month ago. While standing in line, two of the employees got into a fist fight, sad thing was, one was the manager. As soon as I was sure several of the other patrons were calling barney, I left. We had Churches and haven been back.

[Clark]

Since everyone seems to be jumping on the "let's get Popeyes" bandwagon, I feel that I should defend them.

I am not a fan of fried chicken but my wife loves Popeyes, hence I have to go there now and then. We have a couple of Popeye's near us that have been excellent everytime I have been there. The service has been better than the usual fast food service that you see at other places and the food has been very good.

We were traveling through Ft. Worth a few months ago and went into a brand new Popeyes just north of town on I-35W and it was very good. Employees were clean, polite, and even came around while we were eating to check on things.

We went to a Church's Chicken ONCE last year and we were the only ones there. The stink hit you when you walked in and the counter employee looked like an uninterested prison escapee. We just turned around and left.

In our area Chick Filet, Canes, Slim's Chicken, and Chicken Express seem to rule the roost.

[klflowers]

I think it depends on where you live. The Popeye’s in New Orleans was outstanding. There is one in Atl near where my mom used to live that was great too. The one’s here leave a lot to be desired.

[Draznnl]

😢😢 This is sad to see.Popeye’s was the only fried chicken place I went to when I lived in Chicago. There was one in the building I worked in and another around the corner from home. Ate there more often than I should have. Now, I inconveniently live about a half hour from the nearest Popeye’s so haven’t been there since we moved down 3 years ago. I miss it, but I’m not sure I’m willing to risk it after seeing your pics Kevin.

[klflowers]

If you happen to be in the neighborhood it may be worth a try. But I wouldn’t go out of my way.

[Mosca]

Any chain restaurant is franchise dependent. You have to figure that a lot of research and food science went into the menu, the prep, the supply chain, the layout, the location, the pricing… the only way that can be screwed up is incompetence and indifference.

I always think about when a Smokey Bones opened in our area. You’d think, “Franchise barbecue, YUCK!” But the GM was a real smokehead, a guy who stayed up all night watching the smokers! And the food was excellent. I talked with him a couple times, he knew his stuff, he knew their system, and he knew how to make it work. A few years later, his wife gets transferred to Ohio for her job, he leaves, and… well, Smokey Bones. At least the ribs fall off the bones now.

[klflowers]

When the Smokey Bones opened here I went there a lot. Until a couple of incidents - first, they ran out of ribs one weekend. Howe can you be named on your ribs and run out? The second incident was when they served me raw chicken wings. I haven’t been back since.

[Alan Brice]

My first experience with Popeyes was in Savanna Ga 1984. Heard of them because the name was kicking arse in the powerboat racing community. Got the spicy n red beans, incredible!
Fast forward to 2018 and working as a gopher for the dealership, I had to drive several miles to get it and cold fried chicken is way dif than fresh n hot. Then the franchise decided to build one right around the corner. The beans were terrible, the biscuits were terrible and Chic-fil-e was right next door. Never went back.
I can get a big ol' roti whole chicky at Costco for five bucks. Cannot beat it with a club! I do not even cook chicken for ourselves anymore.

[ecowper]

That’s funny, first time I ever had Popeyes was in Savannah! I was stationed at Ft Stewart and a couple of guys in my platoon wanted Popeyes. I grew up on the west coast and we didn’t have Popeyes in the 70’s and 80’s. At least none in Northern California. Spicy and red beans was the bomb.

[zupanj]

What would the franchise have to do with the quality? I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the chicken comes breaded and frozen. That means they only have to fry it in oil. How can you screw that up?

[jfmorris]

Not everything is done from frozen. I worked at a Wendy's back in the 80's and the only think that came frozen was the fries. I had to split chicken breasts, hand bread them, and we had to make all the hamburgers fresh from bulk ground beef. All the friend chicken places for the most part batter/bread and fry the chicken from raw in each location.

[klflowers]

Purc having Fuzzy curse at you has to be a badge of honor.

[klflowers]

The franchisee hires and oversees the operation. If they aren’t on the ball and they hire lazy employees, the entire operation goes done the tubes.

[gcdmd]

@smokenoob
This one was making the rounds a few years ago:

[Jerod Broussard]

Apparently that was KFC, but nonetheless, the trouble one would go through to get a chicken head that far. And that IS a small fast food bird.

[gcdmd]

@58limited

[58limited]

LOL. What is ingredient #1? Oh, I see it in the instructions. I had heard that for security reasons KFC had two different companies doing different parts of the recipe so that no single company had the entire recipe.

[Donw]

I kind of puckered when I read what is happening at Popeye’s now as my daughter was the executive recruiter who placed a CEO a few years back at a chicken chain. I Just checked with her and feel a sigh of relief that it was with Bojangles and not Popeye’s. 😉

[realdocBBQ]

I've eaten at Jobangle's and it was damned good stuff. That was a number of years ago. Like... 16, 17 years? I think. It's prolly gone to shite now, too, like most everyplace.

[lonnie mac]

Funny there is a Bojangles opening just across from my crappy Popeyes here in a month or two. I have never eaten at one before. Hopefully it's gonna be good!

[jfmorris]

I've not been to a bad Bojangle's yet! All is well!

[gcdmd]

The last time I was at Popeyes (2 or 3 years ago) I noticed that the chicken pieces were smaller than I remembered. That also seems to be the case with @klflowers original post.

Much of the problem may be that the franchises are getting scrawny chickens but cooking them with the temp and time designed for larger chickens.

[Jerod Broussard]

Popeyes for at least the last 20+ years has been on or near the bottom of the scale when compared to KFC and Church's on piece size. A plant nearby supplied all three and Church's would get the biggest pieces, KFC the middle, and Popeye's the smallest. Overall they want a fairly small piece since you are buying by the piece and not by the pound. The chicken size for fast food has always been very small when compared to "grocery store" chickens which are grown about 3-4 weeks longer.

[Panhead John]

Yep, I can verify that Popeyes chicken pieces are smaller than other chains, especially their wings. But the breasts at Popeyes are about average for the most part. Occasionally I’ll be served a pretty good sized breast.

[jfmorris]

Jerod Broussard am I correct in thinking your assessment of chicken piece sizes for restaurants versus grocery stores extends to the chicken wings?

I feel that most of the chicken wings you get at the local wing places tend to be smaller pieces than the chicken wings I buy fresh (or frozen) at the store. Particularly huge are some of the drummettes in those pre-divided frozen bags of Tyson or Members Mark wings I've bought at Sam's Club in the past. I've seen drummettes from the wing occasionally that approached the size of small drumsticks, which are from the leg and should be an order of magnitude bigger...

I prefer to buy fresh wings and cut them up myself, but do tend to keep a big emergency bag of ice glazed frozen wing sections in the deep freeze for those occasions we get a hankering for some wings, and I'll then run them under water in the colander to knock the ice off, and toss them on the Genesis with the grill grates from near frozen, and they come out pretty good. That even works in the air fryer, but it only holds 10-12 pieces at a time...

[Jerod Broussard]

Yes. I've gotten to where I twice fry the wings from the grocery store that are tray packed. They are so big it helps render the fat a little better.

[jfmorris]

Jerod Broussard oh yeah - I learned about twice fried wings from a little Korean owned chicken wing place - best one in Madison county Alabama. Then years later I saw it on an episode of ATK, and if I fry wings, I do a "par fry" of all my wings at 325, then up the oil to 375 and do the second fry on all the wings, after they've rested a few minutes in between.

[Jerod Broussard]

I fried, covered with Frank's Hot Sauce (I put that fecal material on everything), refrigerate, fry again a day or two later.