Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen relied on drive-thrus, including a test of double lanes, and other pivots during the COVID pandemic, and those are likely to continue impacting franchising efforts, a brand development executive said Wednesday.
Jourdan Daleo, senior vice president of franchising and field operations for Popeyes Americas, presented “Growth Fundamentals: Avoiding Pitfalls During Rapid Expansion” during Wednesday’s CREATE webinar, sponsored by BOHA! by TransAct Technologies Inc.
“We pivoted much of our business to drive-thru through the pandemic,” Daleo said, “and we really see that as a trend that's going to maintain.”
The pandemic also has impacted the physical layout of newer stores, Daleo added.
“We are putting in more double drive-thrus than we ever have before to really accommodate a different preference of some of our guests,” she said. “We've had to be really nimble.”
Daleo said Popeyes’ expansion during the pandemic relied on “building out locations that can handle that type of capacity and delivery.”
At the end of fiscal 2021 on Dec. 31, Popeyes had 3,705 restaurants in its system, up from 3,451 at the end of 2020. Of those, 2,754 were in the United States and 951 were international locations. The brand is owned by Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International Inc., which also owns Burger King, Tim Hortons and the recently acquired Firehouse Subs.
Adding more than 250 net new Popeyes restaurants in the pandemic year of 2021 allowed the brand to emphasize convenience and modernize to increase capacity in the units, Daleo said
“There are a lot of opportunities to modernize and really speak to the guests coming into the restaurants again,” she said.
Daleo said Popeyes looks to recruit franchisees “who really identify with us as a brand and are proud to be a part of it — believe in our food and believe in what we do.”
The brand also looks for franchise partners who will develop units for the long term as well as keep a close eye on restaurant operations.
“While we do want long-term, patient capital — and to be clear we do look for partners that are going to be in it with us for the long haul — we are hyper-focused on truly good operators, hands-on operators,” Daleo said.
Daleo recalled that she was on a market tour in New York last week and a franchisee noticed an inconsistency in one of the batters.
The operator, she said, “stopped immediately, put down his books, his notepads, set them aside and spent the next half hour coaching through some adjustments and modifications that that made a huge difference in the quality to the guest.”
That hands-on operator exemplifies what Popeyes is seeking, she said. “We're not just looking for people that are going to open quickly. We are looking for partners that have this passion and are the best partners out there.”
Popeyes realizes franchising has a personal side, Daleo added. “It's a partnership at the end of the day,” she said.
Daleo, who also has worked with RBI’s Burger King brand, said franchise relationships are highly important.
“The experiences with both brands has taught me so much about both growth and the importance of franchisee relationships,” she said.
Popeyes has large growth opportunities because of its smaller numbers, Daleo said, especially compared to more mature brands like Burger King, which ended 2021 with 19,247 units worldwide.
“We do need to ensure we're growing with the right partners, new or existing,” she said. “We need to focus on our relationships and profitability and ensure that we've got the right structure in place, the economics in place, to really have our franchisees succeed.”
Popeyes was founded in 1972 in New Orleans, La., and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
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