Here's Why Popeyes Almost Disappeared From the Fast-Food

Popeyes is one of America's most popular and lucrative fast-food chains, but not always. After becoming famous for spicy fried chicken

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Al Copeland, a young New Orleans donut store owner, started Popeyes in 1972 after realizing fried chicken was more profitable. Popeyes'

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Copeland added Cajun spice to Popeyes' chicken to distinguish it from KFC and give it a neighborhood feel. Popeyes changed from offering bland chicken

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Popeyes' iconic "love that chicken" slogan and buttermilk biscuits were established during the early 1980s. By 1985, it had 500+ restaurants countrywide.

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KFC was the market leader in the 1980s, followed by Church's and Popeyes, which had smaller market shares.

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Popeyes' Al Copeland unexpectedly bought Church's for roughly $400 million. Church's initially opposed the merger with Popeyes, but the struggling

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Popeyes was saved by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's bankruptcy purchase of the two chains. The bank created AFC to manage

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Popeyes started a new chapter in 2017. Restaurant Brands International, which owns Burger King and Tim Horton's, bought the

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franchise for $1.8 billion. Since then, the brand has opened more outlets and introduced its Fried Chicken Sandwich.

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