- Popeyes officially relaunched its wildly popular chicken sandwich on November 3 after selling out of the menu item in August.
- The second iteration of the sandwich has been linked to various reports of violence, many stemming from agitated customers who want to get their hands on the coveted menu item.
- Police confirmed that a deadly shooting in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on November 4 was linked to the return of the chicken sandwich.
- “There is no reason for someone to lose their life on a Monday night in a parking lot,” Popeyes said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends and we are fully cooperating with local authorities.”
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The Popeyes chicken sandwich is back, and the second iteration of the famed menu has been as wild – if not more – than its first go-around.
Foot traffic to stores surpassed the peak traffic during the original launch of the sandwich, according to foot-traffic tracker Placer.ai.
Since the sandwich relaunched on November 3, there have been various reports of customers resorting to extreme measures to get one of the sandwiches.
“It is as crazy as last time if not more,” said a shift leader in a Texas Popeyes who worked through the first iteration of the Chicken Sandwich Wars. He said his location sold over 2,000 sandwiches the first night of the relaunch.
Popeyes said that some locations experienced drive-thru lines down the street and in-store lines that went out the front door.
But in some cases, the hype has become dangerous. A Popeyes employee was arrested on Friday after a viral video showed an employee body-slamming a woman outside a Tennessee restaurant, Fox reported.
A deadly shooting in Oxon Hill, Maryland the day after the sandwich's relaunch was linked to to the return of the menu item, police confirmed. One man fatally stabbed the other while waiting in line for a Popeyes chicken sandwich after an argument. Jennifer Donelan, a spokeswoman for the Prince George's County Police Department, said that the disagreement was apparently sparked when one person cut in front of the other in line.
From a fatal stabbing to a report of a brawl between an employee and a customer, here are all the incidents connected to the Popeyes chicken sandwich so far.
An altercation between two men in line at a Popeyes in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on November 4 ended in a fatal stabbing. Police confirmed that the incident was related to the the release of the sandwich at the restaurant.
Source: Business Insider
"For you to get that angry over anything, for that type of anger to develop into this type of violence, is a very sad and tragic day," said Jennifer Donelan, a spokeswoman for the Prince George's County Police Department.
Source: Business Insider
Another Maryland Popeyes was reportedly the site of a brawl. A spokesperson confirmed to The Baltimore Sun that there was an altercation between an employee and a customer that demanded a refund.
Source: The Baltimore Sun
The incident occurred on November 3 and was caught on video. Police reportedly responded to reports of disturbances at that Popeyes location two more times. “None of these incidents appear to be related to the recent release of their chicken sandwich,” Kyle Andersen, a sheriff’s office spokesman, told The Baltimore Sun.
Source: The Baltimore Sun
A woman appeared to wreck her car at a Popeyes drive-thru in Los Angeles, California on November 5 on her way to get a sandwich, a viral video on Instagram showed.
Source: Instagram
Eater reported that the driver was not cutting the line, but rather attempting to merge into the drive-thru from one of the two lanes.
Source: Eater
A viral video posted to Twitter on November 5 appeared to show a dispute between two women in a Popeyes restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, Fox News reported.
The video showed two women throwing food trays at one another.
Source: Fox News
A Popeyes employee in Columbia, Tennessee was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault after a video surfaced that showed an employee body-slamming a customer to the ground on November 8, local news reported.
Source: WSMV
The incident reportedly occurred after a verbal altercation inside the restaurant.
Source: WSMV
When the sandwich originally debuted in August, violence ensued as well. "I had customers nearly fight some of my coworkers because they were told that we were not serving the sandwich because we had ran out," a manager at an East Coast Popeyes told Business Insider in August.
Source: Business Insider
Police told local news in September that a man pulled out a gun at a Popeyes restaurant after being told they were out of chicken sandwiches.
Source: Click 2 Houston