The much-anticipated Popeyes® UK drive-thru restaurant in Cardiff Bay has officially opened its doors to eagerly waiting customers in Cardiff Bay Retail Park, with record-breaking queues starting from 7pm [Monday 28th August].
The brand-new restaurant, which is also only the UK’s third drive-thru for the American fried chicken brand, saw avid-fans join queues for the opening from 7pm on Monday evening, eagerly waiting for 16 hours to pick-up a taste of New Orleans.
Showcasing its Southern hospitality, Popeyes® UK has celebrated the official opening, with the first 3 people in the queue on opening day, both in vehicles and restaurant walk-ins, winning free Chicken Sandwiches for a whole year. Additionally, the first 25 vehicles through the drive-thru and the first 25 pedestrians were rewarded with a free Chicken Sandwich and exclusive drive-thru merch.
Alexis Brito and Saimon Ali, winners of Free Chicken Sandwiches for a year, were some of the first in the queue after arriving at 7pm the previous evening. “We love the Popeyes in the centre of Cardiff so had to be one of the first to come down to win Free Chicken Sandwiches for a year. We only arrived home from our holiday yesterday and came straight here.”
To celebrate the launch of its new breakfast menu, Popeyes® UK will also be extending its giveaway to free breakfast muffins to the first 25 cars and first 25 pedestrians in the queue at the new drive-thru from 8am on Wednesday 30th August. Breakfast will be served from 8am every day at the Cardiff Bay restaurant and includes big breakfast rolls, Cajun hash browns and indulgent Nutella-topped buttermilk biscuits.
Renowned for its Chicken Sandwich that ‘broke the internet’ when it launched in the US and its world-famous ‘shatter crunch’ chicken, the restaurant will offer the brand’s full mouth-watering menu, which includes the much-loved Signature Louisiana Chicken, Signature Louisiana Wraps, Chicken tenders, Hot Wings, and Popeyes® Biscuits with gravy and more, seven days a week.
That’s not all. Popeyes say that ‘everyone has a seat at our table’ and are bringing the community spirit of New Orleans to the Cardiff Bay launch by partnering with two local organisations.
Local club Fairwater RFC will be enjoying Free Chicken Sandwiches from the restaurant throughout their upcoming season. Members of the team helped to launch the new restaurant with a scrum ‘drive-thru’, complete with their very own Popeyes branded Rugby balls.
Ray Leigh, Club Secretary at Fairwater RFC said: ‘We’re so excited to be partnering with Popeyes for the launch and are looking forward to enjoying their iconic Chicken Sandwiches after our games this season. We can also now officially say we are the undefeated champions of drive thru rugby!”
Popeyes will also be launching a ‘Cheers Drive’ campaign with local taxi firm Dragon Taxis.
Driver Partners of Dragon Taxis will receive a free Chicken Sandwich when they bring customers through the Drive Thru lane on their journey. The campaign will run for a month from 11th September to 10th October 2023.
Sally Krouma, Marketing Manager at Dragon Taxis said: “We’re delighted to partner with Popeyes this year and support the launch of their second site in Cardiff with our ‘Cheers Drive’ campaign.
“Driver Partners work extremely hard, so it’s fantastic to be able to offer them free chicken sandwiches when they take passengers through the Popeyes drive-thru. Supporting local openings is hugely important to us here at Dragon Taxis and it’s been brilliant working with Popeyes on this exciting campaign.”
Neil Williamson, COO at Popeyes UK, said: “After the success of our Cardiff St John St restaurant opening earlier this year we knew our first drive thru in Wales would be popular, but the Cardiff Bay launch this morning has exceeded all of our expectations, with customers queueing for 16 hours. We’re also really pleased to have launched our partnerships with Fairwater RFC and Dragon Taxis so that these valued members of the community can enjoy our famous Louisiana Chicken”.
