Love that chicken from Popeyes, they said. It's so reasonably priced, they said, and delectable, they said. Well, they were right. So fucking right, in fact, that a restaurant in California took it upon itself to purchase and resell Popeyes chickenout of its own damn kitchen, for more than twice the price.
Because the world has a little mercy every once in a while, this restaurant, called Sweet Dixie Kitchen, got caught. How? They were fucking slipping. Rule No. 1 for passing food off as your own: don't bring the shit through your restaurant in its branded ass container. A dissatisfied customer named Tyler H. posted a review to Yelp in early October, alerting would-be patrons, and the entire internet, to Sweet Dixie Kitchen's shady antics.
"THE CHICKEN THEY USE IS FROM POPEYES!" Tyler begins. "Before my friends and I got seated we saw them quickly bring in two large boxes of Popeyes to the kitchen. I wanted to believe that this was just a snack for the workers, but alas it was not."
Tyler continues: "I ordered the Chicken and Waffles to see whether or not they was serving Popeyes to their customers. I thought the chicken tasted suspiciously like Popeyes and was also rather stale. I kindly asked our waiter how they cooked their fried chicken. After checking he admitted that they do in fact use Popeyes."
According to Tyler, the manager compensated his meal, which also featured waffles that were "hard as rocks." But it didn't take long for the owner, Kimberly Sanchez, to respond to the review.
"Hi Tyler," she wrote. "We PROUDLY SERVE Popeyes spicy tenders- the best fried chicken anywhere and from New Orleans- which are delivered twice a day."
Girl, WHAT? How TF you gon' say proudly? How TF you gon' proudly pass off Popeyes as your own? How TF you gon' proudly pass off stale Popeyes as your own and bring shame to the Popeyes name?
You can read Sanchez's full response below.
Since then, dozens of people have flocked to the restaurant's Yelp page to leave their own reviews, whether they had visited the restaurant or not. As a result, Yelp is actively monitoring the page "for content related to media reports." Ya don't say?
Food writer Brian Addison had previously listed Sweet Dixie Kitchen as an essential Long Beach breakfast joint on his website Longbeachize, and quickly amended said list once he heard about the Popeyes fiasco. In an interview with Vice Munchies, Addison called it like it was.
"I know the internet thinks it's hilarious, but I think it's super serious," Addison said. "This restaurant is in a working-class neighborhood of downtown Long Beach serving up Southern food. What they're doing almost borders gentrification of food."
Sanchez has since responded to the reports, telling Vice Munchies: "If the decisions were wrong or misleading to some, I wholeheartedly apologize."
