Popeye's chicken sandwich is one of the greatest modern business phenomenons. For years, McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, and other leading brands have given up on innovation and instead lean on nostalgia to breathe life into stagnant menus and hide one dimensional cost-cutting strategies. These brands have all deprioritized the United States in favor of international markets. Dollar menus have been eliminated, consistency is now as rare as quality, and Americans have gotten used to getting the short end of the stick in fast food.

All these factors made the Popeyes chicken sandwich in 2019 a miracle in itself. The sandwich was so unexpectedly exceptional in quality and price that customers waited hours to experience the viral sensation. The sandwich was groundbreaking in demonstrating that even in a market as mature as fast food, businesses ultimately compete on merit and that customers will always reward innovation.

As we covered in the Burger King episode and Under Armour episode, private equity can have disastrous consequences on businesses. Yet the Popeyes chicken sandwich came from the same private equity owners that had been running Burger King into the ground. What managerial lessons can we draw from Popeyes’s success, what exactly made such innovation possible, and what is the company's strategy today 5 years after the chicken sandwich? In this episode, we’ll cover the rise of Popeyes and the present-day aftermath of this fast food miracle.

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