Popeyes

Popeyes was founded in 1972 in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Alvin C. (Al) Copeland. Its menu was built around Louisiana flavor, with fresh, hand-battered bone-in fried chicken in two flavors, New Orleans Spicy and Louisiana Mild, served with sides such as red beans and rice, Cajun rice, Cajun fries and buttermilk biscuits.⁠[1][2][3][4][4]

On July 2, 1979, Copeland and related parties signed a formula agreement with the then operating company, Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken. Copeland was the former owner of both the Popeyes and Churchs restaurant systems; in the AFC era, the spicy fried chicken formula and certain other ingredients were licensed exclusively worldwide to the Popeyes system by Copeland and his company Diversified Foods and Seasonings, with monthly royalty payments scheduled until March 2029.⁠[4][4][4][4][4]

On November 5, 1992, AFC acquired its business from a debtor in a bankruptcy reorganization and began operations, with Frank J. Belatti serving as chairman and chief executive officer from then on. The company was originally named America’s Favorite Chicken Company; in line with a strategy of offering franchisees investment opportunities in brands beyond quick-service chicken and becoming the “Franchisor of Choice,” it changed its name to AFC Enterprises in October 1996. As of 1997, the private equity firm Freeman Spogli owned 55.1% of its shares.⁠[4][4][4][4][4][4]

On May 5, 1997, AFC acquired the franchise business of Chesapeake Bagel Bakery from The American Bagel Company, and on March 18, 1998, it acquired Seattle Coffee Company for about $70 million. As of December 28, 1997, the AFC system had 2,642 restaurants, 1,131 of them Popeyes restaurants located in 40 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and 18 foreign countries; by sales, Popeyes was that year the world’s second-largest quick-service chicken chain and the leader of the Cajun segment.⁠[4][4][4][4][4][4]

On March 2, 2001, AFC Enterprises’ common stock began trading on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “AFCE,” with no prior public market; the company used $46 million of proceeds from its initial public offering to repay bank debt. In 2001 AFC owned Popeyes, Church’s Chicken, Cinnabon and the coffee brands Seattle’s Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia, with system sales of about $2.6 billion.⁠[5][5][5][5]

On July 14, 2003, AFC sold Seattle Coffee to StarbucksStarbucksStarbucks is a publicly traded coffee company headquartered in Seattle, founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl. Howard Schultz subsequently developed its coffeehouse model and international expansion. It operates company-owned and licensed coffeehouses and sells packaged coffee through partners. Its shares trade on Nasdaq under SBUX.Open the full entry for about $72 million in cash; on November 4, 2004, it sold Cinnabon to Focus Brands for about $21 million; and on December 28, 2004, it sold the Church’s brand to an affiliate of Crescent Capital Investments for about $379 million in cash and a $7 million subordinated note. Popeyes then became the sole business segment within AFC’s continuing operations, and the company was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.⁠[6][6][6][6][6]

In November 2007, Cheryl A. Bachelder, a director since November 2006, became chief executive officer; when RBI announced its acquisition in 2017, she was still Popeyes’ chief executive.⁠[1][3]

On January 17, 2014, AFC Enterprises changed its legal name to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., operating restaurants under the trade names Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.⁠[7][2]

On June 13, 2014, Popeyes signed a recipe and formula purchase agreement with Diversified Foods and Seasonings, closing on June 16, to buy for $43 million in cash the recipes for many of its core menu items that it had previously used under license, funded by borrowings under its revolving credit facility; the parties replaced the old royalty and supply agreement with a new supply agreement running until March 20, 2034.⁠[8][8][8][8]

As of December 25, 2016, Popeyes operated and franchised 2,688 restaurants in 48 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, three territories and 25 foreign countries; of its 2,012 U.S. franchised restaurants, about 67% were concentrated in states such as Texas, California, Florida, New York and Louisiana.⁠[1][1]

On February 21, 2017, Restaurant Brands International and Popeyes announced an agreement under which RBI would acquire Popeyes for $79 per share in cash, about $1.8 billion in total, a 27% premium to the 30-trading-day volume-weighted average price before media speculation began, financed with RBI’s cash on hand and a financing commitment from J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo. After the acquisition Popeyes would continue to be managed independently in the U.S., becoming RBI’s third brand after Burger KingBurger KingBurger King is a fast-food hamburger chain founded in Miami in 1954, known for its flame-grilled burgers and its signature Whopper, and is the world’s second-largest fast-food hamburger chain by number of restaurants. Since 2014 it has been part of Restaurant Brands International, a Canada-incorporated company headquartered in Miami, together with Tim Hortons, and the vast majority of its restaurants are run by franchisees.Open the full entry and Tim HortonsTim HortonsTim Hortons is a Canadian restaurant chain built around coffee, doughnuts and baked goods, named after one of its founders, National Hockey League defenceman Tim Horton; it opened its first restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1964 and is Canada’s largest restaurant chain by number of restaurants. It merged into the American hamburger chain Wendy’s in 1995 and was spun off as a public company in 2006; in 2014 it combined with Burger King to form Restaurant Brands International (RBI), within which it has since operated as an independent brand, with 6,232 restaurants worldwide at the end of 2025.Open the full entry; RBI chief executive Daniel Schwartz said RBI would accelerate the brand’s pace of restaurant openings in the U.S. and internationally.⁠[3][3][3][3][3][3]

On March 27, 2017, RBI’s acquisition subsidiary accepted for payment all shares validly tendered in the tender offer, and the merger was completed immediately afterward without a vote of Popeyes shareholders; RBI consolidated Popeyes’ results from March 28, 2017.⁠[9][9][10]

In 2019, demand for the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich far exceeded expectations, causing supply shortages. That year comparable sales in RBI’s Popeyes segment rose 12.1%, including 13.0% in the U.S.; at the end of 2019 the Popeyes system had 3,316 restaurants.⁠[10][10][10]

In September 2020, Sami Siddiqui, formerly president of Tim Hortons and president of Asia Pacific for RBI, became president of Popeyes U.S. & Canada, serving until he became RBI’s chief financial officer in March 2024.⁠[11][11][11]

On June 28, 2024, RBI acquired the Popeyes business in China (PLK China) and placed it, together with the Burger King restaurants acquired earlier from Carrols, in a newly created Restaurant Holdings segment. RBI said it planned to accelerate net restaurant growth at PLK China and to find new partners for those restaurants over time.⁠[11][11][11]

In November 2025, Peter Perdue, chief operating officer of Burger King U.S. & Canada since June 2023, became president of Popeyes U.S. & Canada; he joined RBI in 2013, and his experience spans operations, franchising and finance.⁠[11][11]

As of December 31, 2025, Popeyes had 5,413 restaurants worldwide (3,578 in the U.S. and Canada and 1,835 internationally) in 51 countries and territories, with global system sales of $7.789 billion. RBI’s PLK segment covers only the U.S. and Canada: in 2025 its system sales were $6.076 billion, down 0.7% on a constant-currency basis, comparable sales fell 3.2% (2.9% in the U.S.), net restaurant growth was 1.6% and adjusted operating income was $250 million; average U.S. franchisee restaurant profitability was $235,000 ($255,000 a year earlier).⁠[11][12][12][12]

In the second quarter of 2026, RBI’s PLK segment had system sales of $1.529 billion, down 3.1% on a constant-currency basis, with comparable sales down 5.1% (5.2% in the U.S.), 3,542 restaurants at period end, segment revenue of $199 million and adjusted operating income of $63 million ($66 million a year earlier).⁠[13][13][13][13]

Within RBI, Popeyes’ U.S. and Canada business forms the PLK segment, which is based in Miami, Florida; Popeyes restaurants outside the U.S. and Canada are included in RBI’s international segment.⁠[11][11]

The cartoon character “Popeye” belongs to King Features Syndicate, a division of The Hearst Corporation; in the AFC era, Popeyes held licenses granting it the exclusive right to use the image and likeness of Popeye and companion characters such as Olive Oyl in its restaurants.⁠[4][4]