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Beyonce’s favourite fried chicken is coming to China, with first Popeyes store to open in March

  • RBI to open Shanghai outlet in the first quarter, the first of its ambitious plan for 1,500 restaurants in the next 10 years
  • China’s fast-food industry is worth about US$11.6 billion, and growth is expected to slow in the years through 2023, according to Mintel research

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Chicken sandwich served at a Popeyes restaurant in Texas, USA. Photo: AP
Pearl Liu

Restaurant Brands International is planning to open the first of its Popeyes fast-food restaurants in China by the first quarter of next year, in an expansion drive to catch up with rivals with decades of head start in the world’s most populous nation.

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The operator has signed a lease for 430 square metres of space on the corner of Huahai Middle Road in Shanghai’s shopping belt, chief executive Jose Cil said. The store opening is a follow up to an announcement in July of a 10-year plan to open more than 1,500 Popeyes restaurants in the country.

China’s fast-food industry was worth an estimated 82 billion yuan (US$11.6 billion) last year, dominated by early movers like KFC and McDonald’s, which arrived in China in 1987 and 1990 respectively. Popeyes is the last of RBI’s three brands to open in China, following Burger King in 2005 and Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons in Shanghai in February this year.

“We will become the top chicken brand player in China which is a critical market to us,” said Cil about its long-term plan. “We are in competition with everybody, with your grandmother when she cooks at home, with other players in the chicken spaces.”

The Shanghai store will also bring Beyoncé Knowles’s favourite fried chicken to mainland Chinese consumers. The US singer, who performed in Shanghai in her 2007 World Tour, has a membership card entitling her to a lifetime of supply, she once said on an Oprah Winfrey show. Popeyes was also served to guests at her wedding with rapper Jay-Z in 2008, according to reports.
Popeyes could do with some controversial publicity in the run up to its Shanghai debut. A chicken sandwich launch in August in the US quickly sold out after a feud with a competitor on Twitter went viral, causing some two-month waiting list.

Popeyes itself had attempted to break into China’s market through its chain in Beijing in late 1990s under its previous owner, only to pull out in 2003. RBI acquired the chain in 2017.

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