Specializing in fried chicken, the fast-food brand Popeyes opened in France in 2023. It plans to increase the number of new restaurant openings in the coming years.
Popeyes wants to conquer France. Specializing in fried chicken burgers, the American fast food brand hopes to open 300 restaurants in France by 2032, reports Le Parisien. After a first failure in the south of the country in 2018, the fast-food chain from Louisiana once again set foot on French soil in February 2023, beginning its return with the opening of a restaurant in the neighborhood from the Gare du Nord, in Paris.
For now, this new attempt is proving conclusive: two years after its arrival, the fast-food chain has 18 restaurants in France. In 2024 alone, Popeyes has opened around ten establishments and three “dark kitchens”, that is to say kitchens solely dedicated to delivery. And the brand does not intend to slow down, intending to open around thirty restaurants each year to reach its objective of 300 restaurants.
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“We tested several formats in different types of cities”, including Mulhouse, Lille or Carcassonne, explains to Le Parisien its general director for France, Olivier Rodrigo, adding that the development plan had been tightened “on the big cities” until 2026.
Openings are planned for 2025 in Marseille, Toulouse and Cergy-Pontoise. Having until now only developed its own business, the brand will open its first franchised restaurants next year, “with the desire to maintain 50% of its own openings”, he specifies.
4,300 restaurants worldwide
The Canadian group Restaurant Brands International, owner of Popeyes and also parent company of Burger King, has entrusted the master franchise for France and the United Kingdom to the British investment fund TDR Capital. The French start-up was carried out by the Napaqaro group (Buffalo Grill), itself owned by TDR Capital, but Popeyes France has freed itself from this and now constitutes an autonomous brand in its portfolio, with its own headquarters and its own purchasing center, as announced by the specialized media Snacking.
Around 4,300 restaurants now display the Popeyes colors around the world, most of them in the United States. Europe is one of its battlegrounds: in addition to France, it has launched into Italy in 2024, after Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and even Poland.
Jérémy Bruno Journalist BFMTV
