The area is now being rebuilt after it was distructed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but in the year 1972, the town of Arabi, Louisiana became the home of Al Copeland’s “Chicken on the Run” business. Business wasn’t going well at his restaurant, and it was really no surprise why. Al Copeland main’s menu was delicious- but rather boring- fried chicken. While mild-tasting chicken might have sold well in other parts of the country, Louisiana is known for its spicy Cajun cooking. So, Copeland “turned up the heat” on his chicken recipe and changed the name of his restaurant to “Popeyes.” Not thinking of the spinach-loving sailor made famous in cartoons, Copeland got the name from the movie, “The French Connection. “Popeye” was the nickname of one of the main characters, police detective Jimmy Doyle. There were other changes coming in Copeland’s future, and to find out what they were, read about the history of Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits.
After Al Copeland started selling a spicier chicken that appealed to the Louisianians, business started to pick up….and then it boomed. Just four years after he opened Popeyes, Copeland licensed another Popeyes restaurant to open up in Baton Rouge. In the next decade that followed, nearly five hundred more of the restaurants popped up in Louisiana. The five hundredth red and yellow “Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits” restaurant opened up in 1985. Perking his chicken up with a combination of white and Cayenne peppers did the trick to make sales boom.
The history of Popeyes contains two interesting eye-openers: KFC restaurant, which sells more than one billion chicken dinners every year, and Church’s Chicken, both came out to be losers against Popeyes Chicken when a national taste test was held in 1987. The win led Popeyes to start a marketing campaign with the slogan, “”America’s Fried Chicken Champ – The Spicy Taste That Can’t Be Beat.
Two years later, Popeyes was heading towards having seven hundred restaurants located across the United States. The company was beginning to expand its operations internationally now, starting in Canada. And- here’s the other eye-opener, in 1989, Church’s Chicken merged with Popeyes Famous Chicken and Biscuits. However, if you had the two restaurants in your town, you may have noticed they kept their individual identities.
In 1993, the history of Popeyes took another turn when it was sold to AFC Enterprises of Atlanta, Georgia. (AFC kept Popeyes, but sold Church’s Chicken to Arcapita in 2004.)
Today, Popeyes boasts having more than 1,800 restaurants in America, plus even more in Canada, Indonesia, Jordan, Guam, Germany, Honduras, Japan, Jamaica, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
As for Al Copeland, he became a legend in Louisiana for his spicy fried chicken. He went on to open many other restaurants, including Copeland’s of New Orleans, Sweet Fire and Ice, Jukebox Diner, Landmark Best Western Hotel, and, of course, Super Popeyes, just to name a few of his endeavors.
His son, Al Copeland, Jr. is now the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Al Copeland Investments, a management company located in Metairie, Louisiana. The senior Copeland owns a mansion in the same town.
