The sign, hailing from Louisiana, is known for its fried chicken burger. He will open a restaurant in Paris next February.
Louisiana burgers… in Paris. The American fast food brand Popeyes lands in France. A competitor to KFC, it will open its first restaurant in the Gare du Nord district of Paris on February 1st. With his famous “Chicken Sandwich Popeyes” in the luggage.
This fried chicken burger, a specialty of the brand like the “Whopper” is to Burger King, has already conquered millions of consumers across the Atlantic. Popeyes boasts chicken marinated for twelve hours in a blend of traditional Cajun spices, hand-breaded and restaurant-fried.
In France, the recipe will be slightly different. To seduce French consumers, Popeyes will offer an adapted version of its menus, relying on the DNA of its brand. More concretely we will find, for example, cantal instead of cheddar. For vegetarians, the brand opts for a red bean burger. As for the price, still no indication. However, the prices should be higher than what we are used to seeing in this type of restaurant, even if the sign evokes 2 euro items at a loss.
A first failure in 2018
This restaurant chain comes from New Orleans, in the US state of Louisiana, a city known for its culinary specialties with Cajun and Creole influences. Created in 1972, the company celebrated its fiftieth anniversary last year. It now belongs to the Canadian group Restaurant Brands International, which also owns Burger King. Popeyes has more than 3,900 restaurants in about thirty countries, obviously in the United States but also in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom – the brand has also established itself in Asia.
In 2018, the Lodarest group had already tried to establish the brand in the south of France with an ambitious development plan, but the attempt had failed and the three establishments had finally taken on the colors of another group brand. Independence Burger. This time around, Napaqaro, parent company of Buffalo Grill and Courtepaille, is taking the adventure. The company owns the franchise for France, for which it has big ambitions: Napaqaro plans to open around twenty restaurants this year in major French cities.
300 restaurants by 2030
After the Gare du Nord, another Parisian establishment will open its doors in two or three months, then other restaurants will open their doors this summer in Lyon and Marseille. The stated goal is to open 300 franchised restaurants by 2030, as many as KFC in France. To differentiate itself from the other fast food brands, the service will be carried out at the table, with row leaders and room assistants. The dishes will be prepared upon request in front of the customers and the desserts will be presented on an old trolley.
Although there will be only one restaurant in the first months, Napaqaro wants to develop the brand right from the launch by focusing on “click-and-collect” and home delivery. The company has partnered with the delivery platform Deliveroo and “dark kitchens” will also strengthen the brand’s network, to cover 80% of the Ile-de-France territory by the end of this year.