QSR May 2022

LEADERSHI P PROF I LE

eyes turns 50, people are talking about the brand more than ever. In 2021, it crossed the 3,000 un i t mark i n t he U. S. and Canada. Popeyes signed more development agreements around the world than at any other point in its history. It’s headed to India, the U.K., Saudi Arabia, Roma nia, France, South Korea, and, naturally, to more markets in the U.S., Mexico, and RBI’s Cana dian base. In guest surveys, which the brand hosts routinely, it asks con sumers what their barriers to trial consideration for Popeyes are. “And what they always say is … actually convenience,” he says. “There’s just not a Popeyes close enough to me. And we think that is a huge opportunity.” “I view that as my obl iga tion—to build more Popeyes,” Siddiqui adds. Just charting overseas, there are “a couple hundred” Popeyes in Asia today. Twenty-six percent of KFC’s total system sales stem fromChina alone. Yum!’s chicken giant has 26,934 restaurants, and only 3,953 of those are in the U.S. “I think that highlights what the whitespace opportunity is out there,” Siddiqui says. In many ways , Popeyes’

Come year-end 2020, Popeyes exited as the country’s second largest chicken chain, just ahead of Chick-f il-A and about 1,300 units behind KFC. After Wing stop, which had more than 1,500 stores and continues to grow, recently upping its global target to 7,000 total stores, Church’s Chicken (913 units), Zaxby’s (905), and Bojangles ( 758 ) neared the three-digit club. Raising Cane’s (509) and El Pollo Loco (482) were climbing, too. But as crowded as this cate gory has stuffed, Siddiqui says, Popeyes doesn’t have any trou ble standing out. It’s as much a race for access as anything else. During COVID, opportuni ties for multi-channel business f lashed for the brand, like it did for so many other restaurant chains. Siddiqui says internal insight, from the outset, focused on the comfort-food movement taking hold. Beyond pizza, Chi nese cuisine and chicken are the two most commonly ordered products for home delivery, he says. Popeyes leaned into the notion and, in particular, the reality it could package chicken for family occasions. Party size increased and Popeyes’ business “thrived as the world moved toward eating at home,” Sid diqui says. The brand got on all delivery aggregator platforms and built out its own mobile platform so its app and, ultimately, loyalty program could be active during COVID.

chicken sandwich gave RBI a trigger point it had been search ing for in regard to the brand. On March 27, 2017, RBI acquired Popeyes for $1.8 billion. It was a signif icant move because it secured the Burger King and Tim Hortons owner ( it now directs Firehouse Subs as well ) a serious stake in chicken. From acquisition to 2020, RBI posted cumulative net restau rant growth of 27 percent at Popeyes. As noted, 2021 represented the highest number of openings yet as the brand closed the cal endar with 3,705 restaurants globally—a net of 254 stores, or unit growth of 7.4 percent. That total breaks down to 2,754 U.S. locations (net of 146 restaurants) and 951 international outlets (net of 108 restaurants). “We’re just scratching the surface on opportunities for Pop eyes,” RBI CEO Jose Cil said in February. “And I firmly believe that the brand is poised to become one of the fastest growing in the industry.”

AS POPEYES GROWS, IT PLANS TO BE FLEXIBLE WITH ITS STORE MODELS.

RBI, as a company, generated more than $10 billion in global digital sales in 2021, or more than 30 percent of its total sys temwide take. Just four years ago, the company had virtually no digital sales in most of its major markets. Popeyes’ U.S. f leet reported 16 percent of sales from digital channels in Q4 2021. Accentuating food and digital trends, coupled with the chicken sandwich draw, is what helped Popeyes produce two of the most historic years it’s had, Siddiqui says. How Popeyes builds on it, from a physical angle, is changing, too. The brand is looking at smaller footprints. Ghost kitchens. Digital-only formats. In South Florida (RBI also has a base in Miami ) , there was a trade area where Popeyes didn’t have any restaurants. Why? No availability for a large, freestanding res

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MAY 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com