Comment by tenpies | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tenpies | Hacker News Reader

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Keep in mind Popeyes is not really fast food. Unless you're ordering fried chicken, everything is cooked to order. They are bound by physics as to how fast they can cook a piece of chicken while keeping it delicious. Add assembly time, and even when it's empty, the cashier will tell you "it'll be 10 minutes" on a sandwich order.

Other things that a non-patron of Popeyes should know:

* There is a daily special (Wednesday is sandwiches in my region, it may be different in yours).

* There are coupons on the web site

* It is more expensive than fast food

* Being slightly mis-treated is part of the Popeyes experience. It's sort of how Chickfila is known for being incredibly nice to all patrons . . . well Popeyes is the opposite. If you don't leave feeling somewhat slighted, you didn't quite get the full experience.

It's been my experience that they do prepare chicken ahead of time. I've always seen trays of cooked chicken sitting under heat lamps. Also, I'm not sure about your last point. I eat at Popeyes about once a month and have never felt that their service was any different from any other fast food establishment.

Every Popeye's experience I've had seems to be a greasy, soggy mess. I keep giving them new shots for some reason, and I keep getting disappointed.

> Unless you're ordering fried chicken, everything is cooked to order.

So all the sides (fries, potatoes, biscuits, rice and beans, etc) are made to order?

The fries are definitely prepared more frequently -- biscuits too -- but the sides are not what I would call the best part of Popeyes because they can be made in bulk and put under heating lamps for longer periods of time than say, chicken.

I don't know how quickly the chicken turns over but it's pretty consistent -- especially if you're ordering something specific (X number of legs, Y thighs, Z breasts), because they need to ensure the proper quantity and that may require breading and then deep-frying the chicken on-demand.

The seafood is probably more "prepared to order" than anything, but I honestly don't know. I've never worked at a fast food restaurant, I'm just a giant and unabashed fan of trash food.

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