Is Popeyes REALLY Falling Off?!

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]So, if you click on this video, you're just as curious as I am. But one of my favorite fast food restaurants, Popeye's, is uh the the bell has been rung and the danger of them falling off is upon us. Apparently, Popeyes has had its worst sales performance in over 20 years. So, Popeye's is in danger of falling off apparently. So, I'm going to do what I did with the Pizza Hut video.

[00:00:19]These were kind of unplanned, but I said, you know, I love these deep dives and stuff like that. So, let's um let's dig into this. Let's see what's going on with Popeyes. Popeyes is one of my favorite fast food restaurants, but if you watch my content, you know, I've been pretty vocal about some of the things that I don't like about Popeyes over the years. Like I said, they've had weak performance. Their first quarter, same store sales dropped 6.5% after a negative 2025, marking the worst performance in 20 years, two decades.

[00:00:44]Two big things that I can tell you with Popeyes when I get into this. First of all, the biggest one that people have issue with, which they have on this article, is operational and pricing issues. And that's one that I've been very vocal about in this last one. when they did a One Piece collab that cost $16.99, which I thought was absolutely insane. Not only for what they were giving you, but also it felt like kind of predatory. They were taking advantage of people who were just fans of One Piece. So, I got what I think are the best deals that you can get in Popeyes, and we're going to go into them, talk about the prices, and kind of just talk about some of the things that you like and don't like. First of all, everybody knows that Popeyes, they experienced their best sales in a long time when they brought out the spicy chicken sandwich, which at the time was like $3 and now it is $6, but they have their $5 phase menu. And this is something that I get into a lot. Their $5 phase menu I thought was a good idea, but some of the stuff I just think it doesn't come off well. So, their $5 phase just means you can get one of four different things.

[00:01:38]One of which is the spicy chicken sandwich, and it cost $5. The problem with that is most people aren't just going to get a spicy chicken sandwich.

[00:01:44]You're just charging this knowing that you're going to get a side and a drink.

[00:01:47]It's still going to come out to over $10. Their meals on average are between 11 and $15. I'm talking single serve regularsized meals. But I do like their spicy chicken sandwich. So, of course, I'm going to eat this as we talk.

[00:02:08]That was a good sandwich. This sandwich I feel like the last time I went and today is crispier and larger than any version I've gotten, even the original ones.

[00:02:27]They don't need to do too much with this. I still think it is the, if not the closest to the best chicken sandwich in fast food. Spicy chicken's always been my favorite on their bio. Large breasts and that spicy mayo.

[00:02:48]It does hit.

[00:02:51]Is this sandwich worth $5 alone? I'm going to be honest and say no. Even though I do think it's a great sandwich, I think a sandwich meal, like if you want to get sandwich fries and a drink, $7 at the most. And that's just not what you're going to get even with the $5 phase. And I think they know that a lot of these companies have been dropping $5 specials and they're always not including even a freaking drink. Who's going to go to a restaurant and not get a drink? And they know that. So, they're banking on the fact that you're going to get $5 and you can get two sides. That comes out to 10 bucks.

[00:03:25]No drink. Once you add a drink, $3.

[00:03:29]We're at $13, which is the average cost for their meal. So, it just feels like they're repackaging the same price more than ever. With that being said, this chicken sandwich is still excellent. It's one of my favorite chicken sandwiches in fast food. I just think they need to work on making this stuff affordable again cuz all these prices have gone nuts and this is like a main culprit of it. $5 for a sandwich is not necessarily a deal more than anything. I have run into some really bright days outside recently and it's not helping that I have really bad allergies for whatever reason.

[00:04:03]There's so much pollen. I get my car wash like two or three times a week. Got my car wash yesterday. It's covered in pollen already and I'm I know it's just getting in my eyes and just really making me tear up. People have been commenting like, "Is he crying?" Like, bro, I have allergies and I make videos every day, so we just got to deal with it. You know what I'm saying? best deal when it comes to their fried chicken, which again to me is the best fried chicken in fast food, is the five piece signature two can dine. Now, it's supposed to be a meal for two, so you get five pieces of chicken, two sides, and a biscuit. One biscuit. Yes, one biscuit. It cost $13.99. I know because I used to get it all the time that two years ago it was $11.99. So, they've silently just hiked up the prices on everything and next thing you know, if people don't say something, it's going to end up being $15. And once again, just like everything else, you do not get a drink.

[00:04:52]They love to do that, but they do have some good ass chicken. So, let's try the chicken out.

[00:04:58]That's a fresh piece, too. When I went in there, they just pulled the chicken out of the grease. That's always the best when you go to Popeyes. You know that.

[00:05:06]Which leads me to my other problem at Popeye's. Hold, please.

[00:05:16]They're more than any other large scale fast food chain restaurant.

[00:05:22]And let me just say before I even talk more, the intention of these videos is not to be a complaint fest and it's not to just lay into these restaurants. I personally want them to do better because it's good for everybody.

[00:05:32]So, I'm trying to give constructive criticism, but most people can attest to this. My bag over here. Popeye's of any of the major chain restaurants is by far the most inconsistent one of any of them. Meaning you don't know what you're going to get. Not only from restaurant to restaurant. So from one restaurant to the next. There's two on this highway that I'm on. Nice little mac and cheese here. They do have some good mac and cheese. I didn't pay for this, by the way. Um I use my rewards points. You get a large mac and cheese for like 500. I have like thousands.

[00:06:05]No, this wasn't. But the regular price on this is like $6, I believe. I'm sorry. The regular price on this is $8 for the large.

[00:06:16]It's good mac, but like getting a large side. It's just again, it's a lot of money. But you don't know what you're getting at Popeye's from not just restaurant to restaurant, but also hour to hour, day to day. You can come in here in like a 4-hour window and get entirely different experience, employees, menus, freshness, you name it.

[00:06:41]I'm a person who's tried a bunch of these different locations over the years. Every single place, not only the employees different, the service was different, the consistency was different as far as the food goes. And people don't want to go into a place and play roulette every time they walk in and not know what they're going to get. So this location that I go to, which is the Pamis, New Jersey location, it's on Route 4 in Pamis, is probably the most consistent that I've had. I haven't had many issue with them, so I continue to go there.

[00:07:17]But I can tell you when I used to go to different locations, it was even worse.

[00:07:20]So, most great franchises that have had the most growth recently have been the most consistent.

[00:07:28]I don't want to call out other franchises here, but Chick-fil-A has been one of the fast fastest growing franchises in the last 5 years or so.

[00:07:34]And everybody raves about their service and consistency. Even though it's not my favorite restaurant, I do have to say it is by far the most consistent of any of these fast food places. And a lot of people would rather go to a place that's consistent than anything because if I'm paying premium price for something like this and I'm paying $13 for a meal, if I spend $13, it better be the same every single time I go. Like I can even say this and I don't really mind that much, but the five piece meal that I got, I asked for all dark meat. It's on my receipt and this is a breast. So what if I was a person that didn't eat breast at all?

[00:08:15]And now I got a piece that I can't have.

[00:08:16]I paid $14 for this. Do you get what I'm saying? And that can be a big problem.

[00:08:20]I'm just going to skip right over to this freaking thigh because I like thighs better. But that's something that if someone comes and has that sort of experience, would they want to come back to a place? I know some people say, "What are you complaining about?"

[00:08:31]You have no idea how bad some people are when it comes to like they they don't some people don't eat breasts and they're not going to eat that. So now they got four pieces of chicken.

[00:08:42]Or what if you have children?

[00:08:45]If anybody got young kids, some kids will not eat certain things. So say I got this where I got two kids. I order five piece and the kids like I'm not eating this.

[00:08:54]You lo them back there and switch it.

[00:08:56]Maybe. What if you're at a place where they say we don't do that?

[00:09:02]That can be a bit of a problem. I still do think their chicken is great, but they have issues massively with consistency and prices. I ain't even talk about the biscuits. Y'all know these biscuits. I love these biscuits, but sometimes you get them, it's like eating a hockey puck. So, you got to make sure you get a good biscuit day. I'm going to eat this with no Beth. Just one bite.

[00:09:26]Oh, that's a great biscuit day.

[00:09:30]By far of the major chicken chain. I know some people say churches and stuff, but churches is regional. The national ones like Popeyes, KFC, this best biscuit. It ain't even close.

[00:09:39]It ain't even close. This good biscuit.

[00:09:41]I don't even need no bed for this.

[00:09:47]Not a good biscuit day on that one. And then the last thing I got here, because they've been pushing it, is the butterfly shrimp combo. You get one side. I got Cajun fries.

[00:10:01]You get eight pieces of shrimp. I got the lemon pepper.

[00:10:07]You get a drink and a biscuit.

[00:10:10]Remember what I said about their prices?

[00:10:14]Everything here is between about 11 and $15.

[00:10:17]This is the regular version. The large is $15.99 at my location. This is $12.

[00:10:26]I know inflation is a thing. I know that price points changing is a thing, but as a person who's been doing this, going to Popeye's on camera since 2020, I can tell you Black and Ranch, their prices have consistently gone up like a dollar every single year. The same meal in 2020 was under $10.

[00:10:51]It was like $8.99, I believe.

[00:10:55]And they didn't have a lot of meals that were over $10 in 2020. Now they don't have anything other than the wrap meal, which is $9.99 for two wraps and a drink. No fries, no side, no nothing.

[00:11:15]Speaking of which, the permanent wraps, like I said, the price point on those is $4 for the wraps.

[00:11:21]Also got mashed potatoes and gravy. I accidentally ordered two of these. I meant to get red beans and rice, but according to my receipt, I didn't.

[00:11:32]I do like their gravy.

[00:11:34]The mashed potatoes to me are just like instant as instant gets, but the gravy makes up for it. The other thing that they have here in this article that I've already kind of briefly touched on was menu complexity, meaning trying to do too much and specifically it says too many experimental lunches like the Hot Ones collab. I kind of like that to be honest and the One Piece collab which I hated.

[00:12:05]Not because of what they were serving.

[00:12:06]It was because they gave you two pieces of chicken with mac and cheese and a and a and a a cake and a drink and it was $16.99.

[00:12:14]Some locations I saw was like $13.99.

[00:12:18]That's still a lot of money for something that's more targeted towards children or at least young adults or at least anybody going to get fast food. And I know I say this in every single one of these videos, but the biggest problem that I have with these places, Popeye's, I love Popeyes. If you name my top five fast food restaurants, Popeyes has been in the top three my entire life. Still is.

[00:12:45]I know rebranding yourself as a QSR or quick service restaurant makes you feel like you're above fast food. That is not why people come to Popeye's.

[00:12:54]KFC did the same exact thing. And I feel like Popeye's was like, "Oh, if they raise their prices, we can raise their prices."

[00:13:01]That's not a reason to raise your prices just because your competitors did. To me, trying to increase your profit margins and getting too greedy is why all these places are having the same issue. I can guarantee you if Popeyes made their food affordable again, their sales will go right back to where they were. But these places, they they just want to make sure that they're reporting record profits every single time and that bubble is bursting. Not just because of their prices raising, but also because there are economic issues right now in this country and they're still like, you know, kind of got that Marie Antuinette, let them eat cake vibe. So, if anybody from Popeyes happens to see these videos, I think you need to do two things mainly. Number one, you need to have more oversight with your restaurants. Meaning, there needs to be consistency from one restaurant to the next. I don't know if you're independently owned and operated franchises, but you need to have regional managers that are checking in on these places to make sure that these issues that they have at all these restaurants stop happening and their food is way more consistent than what it is. Because right now, this food is great, but I might come back here in 2 hours and it bad. And the second thing, you are charging way too much money for your food. People will never want to go to a fast food restaurant and spend more than $10 on a single serve meal. They have specials and promos. Some are good, some are bad. The apps will give you some deals, but for any normal person, most people walk in off the street, they don't use apps. They walk up to the restaurant thing, the kiosk or the counter, whatever it is, and they order food. And if they come in here and they spend $17 on a single serve meal that's not cooked fresh, people are going to be like, "Okay, I'm not going to Popeye's anymore." So, as a person who does this and and does all these restaurants and stuff for a living, if you fix those two things, I think your restaurants will come right back to where they were. If you don't, your sales will continue to decline. You'll continue to keep losing locations, and other places will take your place.

[00:14:53]I I understand that money is good, but greed is not. So, as much as I love you, if you I still have to call it like I see it. Again, this was meant to be constructive. I'm not trying to lay into nobody. It's a corporation. People love Popeyes, and I think a lot of people want to see the same thing. Let me know what you think about Popeyes in the comments section. I just wanted to do this. Any place that I see that's coming in rapid sales decline, I think I'm going to do videos like this. You guys enjoyed the Pizza Hut thing, so I wanted to do it again. But I appreciate y'all for watching and we back tomorrow. More content. Man science. They made it to YouTube. Y'all see that sun, bro? Sun is destroying me right