Popeyes

Al Copeland opened the original "Chicken on the Run" in Arabi, Louisiana in 1972. After a slow start, Copeland pivoted to a bolder, New Orleans-style spicy recipe, renamed the restaurant Popeyes in 1976, and found immediate success. The name was inspired not by the cartoon sailor but by Gene Hackman's character Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. The chain grew quickly through franchising in the late 1970s and 1980s, becoming the primary national competitor to KFC.

Copeland's company ran into severe financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy in 1991, with America's Favorite Chicken Company (later AFC Enterprises) emerging as the new owner. The chain changed hands again when Restaurant Brands International — owners of Burger King and Tim Hortons — acquired Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen for $1.8 billion in 2017.

Popeyes had been a beloved but somewhat sleepy regional chain for decades until August 2019, when the launch of its Chicken Sandwich set off a cultural firestorm. The original run sold out in two weeks. When it relaunched permanently in November 2019, it triggered lines stretching hundreds of people, drive-through waits of over an hour, and a social media war with Chick-fil-A that dominated news cycles. The sandwich is widely credited with triggering an industry-wide chicken sandwich arms race.