Hundreds of people waiting on the sidewalk and a security guard screening the entrances.
At the beginning of February 2023, the square in front of the Gare du Nord in Paris was the scene of a strange ballet, not in front of a nightclub but… a new fried chicken fast-food restaurant.
The Popeyes chain - ultra-popular in the United States and which has 4,100 restaurants around the world - had just opened its first restaurant in France on February 1, after a first failed attempt at setting up in 2018. A year later, the queue waiting time has disappeared.
After the initial craze, is it working?
“It’s a great success that cannot be denied
,” assures Olivier Rego, CEO of the brand in France, who is preparing the opening of his 13th restaurant in Carcassonne in March.
The American chain, supported in France by the Napaqaro group (Buffalo Grill), has already deployed in city centers, in shopping centers, with drives on the outskirts and dark kitchens in the city for home delivery.
“We wanted to try all types of formats and locations, to test the robustness of our business model and perfect our logistics
,” explains the boss.
Expertise
After a year of operation, Popeyes is still targeting 250 to 300 openings within ten years.
Around fifteen are planned for 2024, before ramping up.
All open restaurants are, at the moment, branches.
“The time to master the know-how, establish the economic model and formalize our procedures in the kitchen
,” explains Olivier Rego, who wanted to operate on his own for at least two years before launching into franchising.
The first franchised restaurants will open in 2025.
“
Know-how”
in a fast-food chain?
That's because at Popeyes, we don't defrost ready-made products that just have to be cooked and assembled.
The chicken is fresh and the breading is made in the restaurant, as it is served.
The Cajun spice blend that made the success of the brand from New Orleans is a closely guarded secret:
“Even we don’t know it!
smiles Olivier Rego
.
It is delivered to us by the headquarters in the United States.”
They are mixed with buttermilk to make a
“batter”
, in which the chicken is dipped then rolled in flour before being fried.
Fillets, wings, thighs... Each piece has its specific flour and a helping hand to master.
The specialty of Popeyes: fresh chicken breaded on site, with a secret spice blend.
Thibaut Déléaz / Le Figaro
The best-selling product, the Chicken Sandwich, is a simple burger, with just four ingredients: bread, mayonnaise, pickle and fried chicken.
Each restaurant sells more than 300 per day.
It rubs shoulders with “francised”
products
, with Cantal AOP for example, applying the recipe that made McDonald's the king of the sector in France.
Conversely, the brand is also working to gradually integrate into its menu American products that make it successful around the world, like coleslaw offered as an alternative to fries.
The main thing, underlines the boss, is to keep a short menu
“to guarantee the quality of the products”
.
French chicken
Supply remains a challenge:
“The poultry market is already tense,”
points out Olivier Rego.
So a new player who is going to consume a lot of chicken and says he is going to open 300 restaurants in ten years, it’s not easy.”
In the midst of a farmers' crisis, Popeyes says it wants to offer 100% French chicken.
He signed the ECC (European Chicken Commitment) charter for animal welfare,
“which will perhaps force us to temporarily have not only French chicken, until the sector has the capacity to meet demand, until 2027 at the latest
,” explains Olivier Rego.
The Chicken Sandwich, the chain's star product, has only four ingredients: bread, mayonnaise, pickles and fried chicken.
Xavier Dragon / Popeyes
Popeyes must also ensure accessible prices, a request from the parent company.
The menu with Chicken Sandwich, fries and drink is sold at 8.99 euros.
“It’s not easy because we have reached the peak of inflation
,” recalls Olivier Rego.
This was one of the positioning errors during the first attempt to set up in France in 2018, by another investor:
“The menu was more than 13 euros, consumers did not understand”
, analyzes the boss .
This time, the development is more supervised by the new parent company RBI, which also owns Tim Hortons and Burger King - operated in France by a competitor of Napaqaro, the Bertrand group.
Read alsoHow KFC established itself in the French fast-food landscape by focusing on chicken
Fierce competition
In a fast-food market with an already well-stocked offering, is there still room for a newcomer?
Competitors are firmly established: 1,500 restaurants for McDonald's, 500 for Buger King, more than 300 for KFC…
“There is room, because the chicken segment is popular in France and it is underexploited
,” assures Bernard Boutboul, president of Gira, a consulting firm for the catering world.
“The arrival of KFC in the 1990s did not slow down the development of McDonald's.”
Fast food, the specialist points out, is mainly taking market share from traditional catering.
Popeyes assures that it can coexist with other brands.
“When we set up, we see that we are not cannibalizing the turnover of our competitors and that we are bringing value to the area,”
rejoices Olivier Rego.
Take the Part-Dieu shopping center in Lyon: we quickly reached the turnover of our competitor next door without attacking theirs.”
The second Parisian restaurant, Place de la République, stuck in a row of Burger King, McDonald's and KFC, is doing just as well and has not made the neighbors give in.
A symbolic location for Popeyes, which shows that it intends to play in the big leagues.