Field Report: Popeye's Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Jermanator

I know there is a bunch of excitement surrounding their new sandwich so I thought I would give you my expert assessment. There was no way in hell I was going to stand in line inside or wait 30 cars deep at the drive through, but it was the middle of the day, I was driving by, and there weren't very many cars in the parking lot so I thought I would check it out.

It is a good chicken sandwich. I am not much of a breading/batter guy, but theirs is very good and has a nice crunch to it. The chicken underneath was moist and juicy and the spicy sauce is decent. Aside from the sauce and breaded chicken (which was a real breast fillet-- not some processed crap), there were pickles and a plain old white bun (which I like because when other places try some sort of "artisan" bun, they suck).

Like I said-- it was a good chicken sandwich. Would I wait in line for 10 minutes for one (let alone the hour that some people are waiting)?

No.

earlyagain

No hour later regrets???

GunNut

Does it taste any different than their fried chicken?

Jermanator

No hour later regrets. Different from their fried chicken? Same type of crunch to it, but with a more flavorful seasoning. The difference between "classic" and "spicy" is classic is mayonnaise, spicy is like a spicy mayonnaise.

Accipiter

Did did you get to fight anyone for it?

Jermanator

Nope. I didn't get to rassle anyone. I was kind of bummed over that. Maybe they were smart enough to not get between a fat guy and a chicken sandwich.

tennmike

Decent range report! Haven't braved the crowds yet in ATHENS, TN to try one yet. I  don't eat out much anyway, and especially fast food. I have been known to go through the drivethru in the morning for a couple of the chikkin biscuits on the way to Chattanooga, though. I like those.

GunNut

Jermanator said:

No hour later regrets. Different from their fried chicken? Same type of crunch to it, but with a more flavorful seasoning. The difference between "classic" and "spicy" is classic is mayonnaise, spicy is like a spicy mayonnaise.

Good to know.  Thanks for being the test subject!

knitepoet

When they ran out a while back, local ads were promoting a B.Y.O.B. (bring your own bun) sandwich promo.
They said bring a bun, buy a 3 piece spicy tender, add lettuce and mayo. So apparently the chicken is the same as their spicy tenders. 

I haven't tried Popeye's sandwich yet, but have had CFA's multiple times, and LOVE Popeye's spicy chicken.
So their spicy chicken on a bun? WINNER for me. Plus, not a big fan of CFA's chicken sandwiches. 

Jermanator

GunNut said:

Good to know.  Thanks for being the test subject!

Since getting into the food business, it would be crazy for me to not check out a phenomenon like this. Yes, I had to try an Impossible Whopper when they came out. Tough work, but someone has to do it.

Accipiter

How was the impossible whopper?

Jermanator

Passable as a fast food burger. If you didn't know it had an Impossible patty in it, you probably wouldn't figure it out if you were eating it. I tried them at White Castle too-- same thing. The "burger" patty by itself tastes good, but you won't mistake it for ground beef.

I catered a birthday party and did a veggie burger bar in September. What my supplier had at the time was one of Impossible's competitors. Anyway, they made pretty good sandwiches-- vegetarians and omnivores alike enjoyed them.

I just tried to look up who made those burgers, but they aren't in my supplier's catalog now. A 10 pound case of 1/4 pound patties was $90. Now they have Impossible's product for sale. A 20 pound case of it runs a whopping $250... $12.50/pound!

earlyagain

One thing Ive noticed about fast food burgers. Particularly Dairy Queen and White Castle is the bread used for buns is not the same as it was way back when. My son gets me to take him to these places as I don't patronize them myself. I expect food similar to a long ago memory, and get crud. Bread needs glutinous substance for flavor and it needs to be fresh. Old crud pumped with air sucks.

Accipiter

alphasigmookie said:

Yeah these things are crazy expensive. They figure they can charge a fortune to the high income urban hipsters who are the main people buying these things. 

Kinda like avocado toast. 

Accipiter

Wow 12.50 a pound for a veggie meat substitute product.  I’ll stick with ground chuck.

Jermanator

alphasigmookie said:

Yeah these things are crazy expensive. They figure they can charge a fortune to the high income urban hipsters who are the main people buying these things. That and they are a ton better than the previous cardboard veggie burgers. 

Yep. $3.13 for a 1/4 pound patty... my costs! Forget trying to experiment with making meatballs, meat sauce, or chili with that stuff for now. I got no problem capitalizing (milking) this plant based trend, but by the time you account for overhead, the rest of the food costs to make it a burger, and labor, it would have to be crazy expensive-- even for an urban hipster with more money than brains. I don't have the buying power Burger King does to drive those prices down.

Jermanator

Accipiter said:

Wow 12.50 a pound for a veggie meat substitute product.  I’ll stick with ground chuck.

I have been playing around here and there trying to make my own, or at least good vegan options to add to a lunch menu. We are doing pasta and only pasta for food truck fairs and stuff like that, but if we want steady work, we are going to need to do lunches at office and industrial parks. That means that we will have to do lighter, healthier fare. We will be making our own bread and soups from scratch. I am working on salad dressings. In addition to our craft root beer (make damn sure you are on my Bum Wine mailing list), we will be serving "craft seltzer" (carbonated water) that we make ourselves in the prep kitchen. I will probably be bottling a craft energy drink as well.