This Iconic Fried Chicken Chain Is Expanding Fast—'Watch Out, KFC!'
Fried chicken is undoubtedly having a moment. Brands like Raising Cane's, Chick-fil-A, and Bojangles continue expanding as more people shift their fast food orders from beef to chicken. Now, according to a new report, one fast food chicken joint is becoming "more popular than KFC" and rapidly expanding across the world, especially in the UK: Popeyes. Here is everything you need to know about the fast food joint's rapid expansion across the pond.
Popeyes, founded in Louisiana in 1972, is currently a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands and has 3,705 restaurants located in more than 46 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 30 countries worldwide – including the United Kingdom. This year, the brand plans on rapidly expanding, opening an additional 45 in the UK.
"Fresh off the fryer 🔥 2025 is about to get a whole lot spicier with 45+ new restaurants poppin' up in a city near you! Where next?" Popeyes UK captioned a recent Instagram post. "This is huge!! 🔥🔥" commented one fan, while several others requested restaurants in their cities.
Tom Crowley, Popeyes UK chief executive, recently spoke to the Financial Times and cited recent investment in their competitor Wingstop as a telling sign that people are very interested in fried chicken.
"The Wingstop value was a good marker for the value of chicken in this opportunity at the moment," Crowley said. "If you can show fast growth successfully, then certainly more private equities are interested."
"People have certainly traded out of casual dining into quick service restaurants as the cost of living crisis is really difficult for everybody," he added, noting that consumers were increasingly looking to chicken rather than beef as a protein source.
According to Crowley, Popeyes is "still in the hype phase," maintaining that people line up at the UK branches of the store.
Since opening their first outpost in the UK in 2021 at Westfield shopping center in Stratford, there are now 65, with competitors including Wingstop, KFC, Dave's Hot Chicken, and Chick-fil-A. There is "lots of competition, of course, but the category is strong and there is room for significant growth," he added.
New locations will open in Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, London, and Scotland with various versions of the restaurant, including dine-ins, drive-thrus, and delivery kitchens.
