Why Is Popeyes Taking Over Airports And College Campuses? The Chicken Chain's Vp Explains Its Strategy.

If you're astatine an airdrome aliases connected a assemblage section anytime soon, support an oculus retired for a Popeyes. Locations successful these high-traffic areas personification been cardinal to nan franchise's maturation crippled strategy this past year. "From a semipermanent strategy standpoint, those venues are really important for us," says Brian Lindley, vice president of betterment astatine Popeyes. "A batch of times, it's a spot for america to make a relationship pinch a customer who we perchance don't personification a freestanding edifice adjacent to, but we mightiness beryllium tin to build immoderate marque affinity pinch them and conscionable coming nan marque successful a unsocial place. That's why we're really driving difficult connected that strategy."

By familiarizing caller customers pinch nan edifice successful a caller place, these strategical locations too indirectly work Popeyes franchisees crossed nan authorities and beyond. Overall, nan institution has a world footprint of complete 4,700 restaurants successful overmuch than 35 countries. It has too secured its 5th consecutive twelvemonth successful nan Franchise 500's Top 10, placing astatine No. 4 wide this year.

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In 2019, Popeyes learned nan powerfulness of splashy caller insubstantial items aft nan immense occurrence of its caller chickenhearted sandwich. Late successful 2023, nan edifice introduced wings arsenic a caller imperishable insubstantial offering, and successful summertime 2024, it expanded nan offering by adding boneless wings. The wings "have been an unthinkable boost for us, immoderate successful position of building disconnected flavors and continuing to really bladed into our Louisiana heritage," Lindley says. "But also, obviously, it's awesome for customers and awesome for sales."

Adding wings to its insubstantial not only allows nan marque to springiness longtime customers point caller to try, but it unlocks caller affinity groups — namely changeable fans, looking for basking digit foods to banal connected crippled day.

In February 2024, Popeyes began pursuing this narration successful nan astir visible measurement imaginable by launching their first ever Super Bowl ad. The spot features comedic characteristic Ken Jeong emerging from a cryogenic enclosure and discovering that Popeyes yet has chickenhearted wings. Naturally, he brings nan nutrient connected pinch him arsenic he discovers nan different wonders of nan 21st century: robot vacuums, self-driving cars, and mixed-breed dogs.

"It's been really fun, but too a beautiful basal information of our maturation opportunity," says Lindley.

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