Franchise owner excited to open city’s first Popeyes restaurant

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This article was published 14/08/2018 (2604 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fast-food aficionados rejoice — a new fried chicken contender is here.

Winnipeg’s first Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is opening this weekend, and there are more to come; the franchisee and his partners have inked a deal to open locations across the city, province and in northwestern Ontario.

“We’re working on additional stores right now,” said co-owner Jonathan Enright of the Enright Group, which includes his father Richard and sister Karley David. “We’re negotiating on a number of properties at the moment and we would like to expand the brand.”

Enright wouldn’t elaborate on the number of locations or when they might open, citing confidentiality.

“Nothing concrete, but we do have a deal signed,” he said.

He’s enthusiastic about bringing the restaurant to Manitoba.

“We’ve been customers of the brand for a long time,” he said. “Great concepts start with great food…. That was kind of the initial thing that attracted us to it. The concept’s got lots of energy.”

The restaurant’s location — in Seasons of Tuxedo adjacent to the Outlet Collection mall at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway — was ideal, he said.

“It brings people from all corners of the city and the province,” Enright said. “Between the large anchor tenants that are in close proximity to our site as well as the outlet mall, we felt like it was a great place to introduce the brand.”

The first restaurant is 2,584 square feet, with a drive-thru and seating for 60.

The partners have restaurant experience — Enright Group already owns and operates 16 Boston Pizza franchises in the province, but the quick-service restaurant style will be a new endeavour.

“This is a new learning opportunity,” said Enright.

The New Orleans-based fried chicken and seafood company opened in 1972 and its first location in Canada was in Toronto in 1984, but started expanding rapidly into the rest of the country in 2014 and 2015, opening 30 restaurants in 18 months.

In 2015, the company’s regional leader for Canada told the Free Press it was planning to expand into Winnipeg. The company had 2,600 locations in the U.S., three territories and 27 other countries as of 2016.

In spring 2017, Restaurant Brands International Inc. bought Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. for about US$1.8 billion. RBI also owns Tim Hortons and Burger King.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca