Is Popeyes new Cajun fish sandwich good? Taste test Versus Chicken

At the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen outpost on 14th Street in Greenwich Village, New York, the sandwich quietly arrives on the menu.

“On Tuesday we sold two. We sold six or seven on Wednesday, ” said a Popeyes employee who works the counter. But on Thursday, the Georgia chain fired the first shot at a new fast-food war with its official nationwide rollout of a new crisp Cajun bone sandwich.

To entice customers, the fast food chain is offering a 15-cent sandwich insurance that will allow people to exchange the $ 4.49 fish order for its lure chicken sandwich – a chance at a new product, for those who are not sure how to will feel over a fish fillet.

“Some guests hesitate to try something new. They have their classic order and do not deviate from their routine, ”says Bruno Cardinali, America’s chief marketing officer for Popeyes. “We have devised a sandwich insurance to give the guests the necessary encouragement.”

Restaurant Brands International Inc., the parent company of Popeyes, reported Thursday’s earnings in the fourth quarter with revenue of $ 1.36 billion, down 8.2% from the previous year. Popeyes reported a 5.8% decrease in sales in the same store. This follows a super-strong fourth quarter in 2019, when the company brought back its famous chicken sandwich. But competitors are now joining fast.

However, CEO Jose Cil says the chain has record profitability in the US and that Popeyes’ average sales are $ 1.8 million a year, a staggering 29% jump from just $ 1.4 million before sandwiches. “A large part of this growth is due to the chicken sandwich, but we are still seeing significant growth in every category of our menu,” he says.

It is difficult to exaggerate the growth of poultry. The summer 2019 launch of the chicken sandwich caused a social media frenzy and created fast food mania also personally. A projected three-month supply was sold out within two weeks, with sellers on eBay offering cold sandwiches for $ 7,000. Driveways and backups have clogged roads. Suppliers do not need the specific chicken to make it. A person was stabbed to death.

Hype and sadness aside, Cil called the $ 3.99 sandwich a “game changer in every way,” with the chain still riding on its fried chicken wave of success.

According to Euromonitor data, Popeyes is now the third largest instant chicken industry in the US, measured by market share. In 2019, the chain picked up a small amount from the previous year to make up 12.4% of the total. Chick-fil-A Inc. was at the top in 2019 with more than 42% of the market, followed by KFC Corp with 15.6%.

While McDonald’s plans to add new chicken sandwiches to its menu, Popeyes is taking part in its own onslaught on the competitor’s famous Filet-O-Fish.

“It’s an amazing sandwich. We tested it for a while, ‘says Cil about the new seafood offer. It started at the end of 2016 along with the chicken sandwich. “The intention is not to replace the chicken sandwich, but it is to give people an alternative during the fixed season.”

Popeyes’ fish sandwich debut comes just before the start of the Catholic holiday Ash Wednesday, which will take place on February 17 this year, when many people have stopped eating meat until Easter. “We regularly launch seafood entrees like our Cajun shrimp around Lent and see great results. So February was a great time to bring our Cajun bone-in sandwich to the masses,” said Popeyes Americas president Sami Siddiqui. said an email.

Credit Suisse Securities credit analyst Lauren Silberman confirms the trend in the industry: ‘In general, operators have said that it is during the fixed time when [fish] is becoming more popular, but otherwise it is not really the protein that consumers go for. It’s nothing compared to what the chicken sandwich is, ”adds Silberman, referring to the cult following and success that Chick-fil-A had with his fried poultry.

In other words, she says, “It did not excite me at all for Popeyes.”

So what does it taste like?

Three testers, two in New York and one in Chicago, got a preview of the Cajun crash and agree: it poses no immediate threat to the chicken meat.

The non-thick, harmless fish is coated with the company’s Cajun flavor mixture with orange colors and then fried in a batter that is not as crispy or compelling as the one on the chicken. “It’s a different batter. We designed it specifically for fish to keep it crisp, even with a super-moist piece of bone,” says Amy Alarcon, head of culinary innovation at Popeyes.)

Most importantly, the ratio of crispy crust to fish does not come close to the firm shell on the chicken. Two tasters wished for more of the surprisingly good tartar sauce smeared on the buttery bread. More than two lemon slices, or even a crunchy lettuce, will add the much-needed texture.