Last October, Popeyes overtook KFC to become the second-biggest chicken chain in the US. Back home in India, the fried chicken upstart has aggressively ramped its footprint over the last two quarters. Can it challenge the might of Colonel Sanders in India?
Gaurav Pande starts the ‘crunchy’ conversation by underlining an elementary rule: Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. Interestingly, the executive vice president and business head of Popeyes India counted his chickens for 12 months before deciding to step out of Bengaluru. Launched by Domino’s Jubilant FoodWorks—the master franchise of Domino’s and Dunkin in India—in January 2022, the Louisiana fried chicken brand remained confined in the QSR capital of India for over a year and then moved into Chennai in February 2023.