How two Brazilians in Miami helped make Popeyes’ chicken sandwich a viral sensation

It was a question as old as time: Why didn’t fried chicken powerhouse Popeyes make a sandwich?

About two years ago, the brain trust behind what many regard as the golden (brown) standard for crispy bird in the U.S. began hatching its answer.

And last week, Popeyes’ chicken sandwich — now simply known as The Sandwich — conquered America, with lines stretching around the block at locations across the country. One city, Henderson, Nevada, even ordered its local Popeyes to shut down because the line for the drive-thru was interfering with traffic.

The sandwich is now the talk of the American eater. What is less known is how the sandwich came to be — and how it was perfected right here in the Magic City.

Popeyes was founded in 1972 in New Orleans. In 2017, Miami-based Burger King and its parent, Restaurant Brands International, purchased the Popeyes brand for $1.8 billion — and moved its headquarters from Atlanta, where the sandwich was first born, to Burger King/RBI’s offices in Miami’s Blue Lagoon neighborhood.

Today, appropriately enough for Miami, Popeyes is overseen by two guys who grew up in Brazil: Felipe Athayde, president for Popeyes Americas; and Bruno Cardinali, Popeyes chief marketing officer for North America.

Demand for chicken sandwiches — and beef alternatives generally, as witnessed by the rise of Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger— has been surging of late. As Robert Earl, celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s business partner, put it at a conference this summer, “Guy, the future is chicken.”

It was simply time for Popeyes to jump on the trend.

“For a while we’ve been hearing from our guests that they would want to see a chicken sandwich coming from Popeyes,” Athayde said. “We knew there was a very big market in the U.S. for chicken sandwiches. And It was very clear to us that we needed to have ours. ... If you are a superior quality chicken brand, you need to have a sandwich.”

Fast food companies are under constant pressure to innovate — and execute. Chains roll out new ideas each year, with varying degrees of success. Think of the periodic revival of McDonald’s McRib, or its permanently defunct cousin, the McSalad Shaker.

For Popeyes, the task of adding what had the potential to become a permanent new addition to the menu was monumental. Cardinali said every step of the eating experience, from the packaging of the sandwich, to the different flavor points of each bite, and even how the sandwich is held, had to be market tested.

Key to the sandwich’s flavor profile, the pair said, was combining elements of Popeyes’ existing products. The chain kept its original, 1972 New Orleans fry recipe for the chicken itself. It also used the same butter found on Popeyes biscuits to flavor The Sandwich’s brioche. A spicy mayo was developed using seasoning from the ‘72 recipe, and a pickle was added for texture.

Then there was the task of prepping the restaurants themselves. Each location had to be retrofitted with new bun toasters and sandwich-making stations, while employees were tasked with how to recreate the sandwich as it had been perfected in the Miami test kitchen.

“It was a long roll-out,” Athayde said.

In May, it was reported that one lucky franchise in Houston had been chosen as the first test location. The response, Cardinali said, was as strong as the restaurant had hoped. A nationwide roll-out was planned for Aug. 12.

When that day came, the reaction was overwhelming, Cardinali said. Chatter on social media confirmed the company had a hit on its hands.

But it was not until a few days later that The Sandwich became the talk of the nation. Cardinali attributes the turning point to a key tweet aimed at chicken sandwich royalty, Chick-fil-A.

Apparently aware of the new competition, Chick-fil-A tweeted, “Bun + Chicken + Pickles = all (love) for the original.”

Popeyes cracked back, “...y’all good?”

In other words, Popeyes said, we have come for you, and we are not backing down.

Social media users scored it a knockout for Popeyes. To date, the Popeyes tweet has received 325,000 likes and 88,000 retweets, including from many accounts popular among some of Popeyes’ key demographics.

Cardinali said Popeyes, like most fast food restaurants, has a rapid-response social media team that can engage and respond in friendly banter using the company’s southern-fried “voice”; in this case, it took just a few minutes to come up with a cracking response to Chick-fil-A’s missive.

Popeyes declined to state how many sandwiches it has sold. Whatever the figure, on Aug. 27, it declared it had officially sold out nationwide. It has not yet announced when the sandwiches will return; in the meantime, it has advised customers to download the Popeyes phone app to receive updates. Some personal info is required to use it.

Since the viral craze erupted, there have been reports that front-line Popeyes workers have been overworked. Popeyes said it is up to individual franchise owners, which oversee the majority of its locations, to set most terms of employment. Steven Wemple, Miami-based president of Sailormen Inc., one of the largest Popeyes franchisees in the country, acknowledged the strain the demand put on his system, saying no one had anticipated the overwhelming demand.

“The employees were the ones working the hardest,” he said. “Next time we’ll be better prepared.”

The biggest piece of news: The sandwich is now a permanent addition to the menu. And it could soon be rolled out to Popeyes locations across the globe.

Jonathan Maze, executive editor of Restaurant Business magazine, said The Sandwich is “a potential game changer” for the company —so long as they can meet supplies and service demands. On Thursday, RBI stock closed at an all-time high of more than $78.

“Hand-held chicken is where it’s at right now,” Maze said.

But he noted Popeyes must maintain service standards to keep momentum going.

“Chick-fil-A’s success isn’t just in its sandwiches. It’s in the service,” Maze said. “It’s excellent. So you can put out the best sandwich ever made but if your service sucks you won’t succeed for long.”

For now, South Florida residents can take pride in knowing that their neighbors are now at the top of the sandwich pecking order.

This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 7:00 AM with the headline "How two Brazilians in Miami helped make Popeyes’ chicken sandwich a viral sensation."