MIAMI – Popeyes announced new food quality commitments for the next five years in support of the brand's efforts to serve responsibly sourced and high-quality food. The new quality and sustainability commitments are part of the Restaurant Brands for Good initiative which focuses on reducing the company’s environmental footprint, supporting communities and serving high-quality food. Restaurant Brands International is the parent company of Popeyes.
As part of the new commitments, Popeyes is working toward removing colors, flavors and preservatives from artificial sources from fried chicken menu items in the United States by the end of 2022, starting with its Popeyes Chicken Sandwich.
The brand also is eliminating antibiotics important to human medicine from its chicken supply chain in the United States and Canada by the end of 2021.
“This new sourcing policy supports the brand’s approach to animal welfare which includes supplier guidance on the responsible use of antibiotics in food animals,” the company said. “Popeyes will be working closely with suppliers to implement the new policy in their chicken supply chain throughout the year.”
Next, Popeyes committed to using 100% cage-free eggs — including whole eggs, liquid eggs, egg products and egg ingredients — in all corporate-run and franchisee-operated restaurants in North America, Western Europe and Latin America by the end of 2025. The company said the markets represent the majority of the chain’s global egg requirements.
“In other regions that currently represent around 1% of our global egg volume, we are committed to using 100% cage-free eggs by the end of 2030 or earlier,” Popeyes said.
Finally, the brand pledged to remove all approved EPS foam cups globally and transition to sustainable palm oil.
“The brand is working towards implementing requirements for all approved fiber-based packaging to come from certified or recycled sources globally, by the end of 2021,” Popeyes said. “Lastly, Popeyes now sources palm oil (both directly sourced and for all branded food products with greater than 1% palm oil or palm kernel oil as an ingredient) which is RSPO Mass Balance certified or covered by RSPO certification or credits for its entire menu globally, per the brand’s Palm Oil Sourcing Policy.”
The company said it is committed to contribute to the production of certified sustainable palm oil in support of deforestation-free supply chains.
“We have been marinating our chicken for 12 hours in bold Louisiana seasonings since our inception in 1972, ensuring high-quality food is served to our guests with every order made. Popeyes has always prioritized quality over time, speed and efficiency. We don’t cut corners,” said Sami Siddiqui, president of Popeyes Americas. “Committed to furthering our dedication to quality, we are thrilled to serve our guests our famous, delicious chicken, but now with real, more responsibly-sourced ingredients, and in more environmentally friendly packaging.”
Originally, Popeyes founder Al Copeland opened a restaurant called Chicken on the Run in 1972 with a focus on traditional Southern fried chicken. Business wasn’t taking off, so he shut the restaurant’s doors and re-opened with a new name (Popeyes) and a new spicy, Cajun-style recipe. Giving his chicken a kick was a success, and Popeyes turned into a franchise within four years. Check out these other 15 restaurants you didn’t know had a name change.
The chain bought the chicken’s spice recipe for $43 million
For 23 years, Popeyes didn’t actually own the recipe to its famous mix of spices—or other recipes. To make sense of all that, rewind back to 1984 when Popeyes founder Al Copeland opened food manufacturing company Diversified Food and Seasonings, which provided ingredients for his Popeyes chicken chain but was its own separate company. In 1991, Copeland filed for bankruptcy and lost ownership over Popeyes (save for a few franchises). With Copeland no longer an owner, Popeyes had to pay $3.1 million in licensing fees every year to use the manufacturer’s recipes until 2014, when it paid $43 million to buy back the recipes.
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It’s good as gold (literally)
In October 2018, Popeyes opened its 3,000th location. To celebrate the huge milestone, a few franchises offered quite the special: boneless wings coated in champagne, then tossed in 24-karat gold flakes. It is the gold standard for fried Popeyes chicken, after all. Find out which 13 fast-food items employees say you should never order.
Beyoncé has a lifetime supply
In what just might be the ultimate celebrity perk, Beyoncé was honored with a lifetime supply of Popeyes. “At one point … everywhere I went, people would buy me Popeyes, like the fans, and Popeyes heard, so they gave me a lifetime membership,” the singer told Oprah in 2003. Whenever she pulls out that card, she’s entitled to as much Popeyes chicken as she wants, though she admitted that she’d been too embarrassed to ever actually use it.
The chicken tenders are the healthiest option
Piece for piece, Popeyes chicken tenders are the lowest in calories and fat of all the fried chicken options. Each chicken tender has about 148 calories (though a three- or five- piece meal would, of course, have more), compared to 160 calories in a Bonafide leg or 210 in a wing. Surprisingly, the Bonafide breast is the highest in calories, clocking in at 380. You could always go healthy with the non-breaded Blackened Chicken, but then again, when in Popeyes …
There have been some pretty creative takes on it
Past offerings that have come and gone—and sometimes returned again—have included Chicken Waffle Tenders (chicken dipped in waffle batter and deep-fried), Wicked Chicken (thin, curly chicken tenders), and Beer Can Chicken (fried chicken that got its taste from a spice blend, not actual beer). When you’re craving chicken, you’ll want to know the secret that makes KFC’s chicken so crispy.
There’s one place you can get it all-you-can-eat
Lafayette, Louisiana, residents are lucky: They live near the last remaining Popeyes buffet in the country. Not only can customers sink their teeth into endless fried chicken, but they can pile their plates high with biscuits, mashed potatoes, and other favorites. Anyone else drooling?
Anthony Bourdain was a fan
That’s right—one of the world’s biggest foodies had a soft spot for good ol’ Popeyes chicken. The late Anthony Bourdain admitted in a May 2018 People interview that when staying in Lafayette, Louisiana (yes, the town with the buffet), he’d eaten at Popeyes three days in a row. He chowed down on fried chicken, but also the guilty pleasure that he admitted to Thrillist: Popeyes mac and cheese.
It has a whole month dedicated to it
September is National Fried Chicken month, but in 2013, Popeyes launched its own spin on the celebration. Every September since then, the chain has promoted Love That Chicken month based on its old jingle, with deals to draw in customers. When it comes to competitors, this is why KFC changed its name from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Its non-breaded chicken was announced via flash mob
When Popeyes announced its “Lousiana Leaux Naked Chicken” in 2011, there was dancing in the street—specifically, a flash mob on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street. The offering is now known as Blackened Chicken. Make sure you know these other 33 secrets fast-food workers aren’t telling you.
A chicken sandwich better than Chick-fil-A’s
To step up their menu even more, Popeyes introduced a new chicken sandwich in 2019. People flocked to the fast-food chain to get their hands on a piece of crispy all-white meat chicken marinated with Lousiana seasonings and a buttermilk coating, crisp pickles, spicy mayonnaise, surrounded by a buttery toasted brioche bun. It was so popular that Popeyes sold out in just two weeks. If you didn’t get the chance to taste one for yourself, they will be coming back, but just make sure to download the Popeyes app so you know exactly when to get in the drive-through lane. Here’s a little bit more about why this sandwich is so irresistible.
Originally Published: September 04, 2019
Marissa Laliberte
Marissa Laliberte-Simonian is a London-based associate editor with the global promotions team at WebMD’s Medscape.com and was previously a staff writer for Reader's Digest. Her work has also appeared in Business Insider, Parents magazine, CreakyJoints, and the Baltimore Sun. You can find her on Instagram @marissasimonian.