Famous American fast food restaurant coming to Laois as part of Irish rollout
A famous spicy chicken American fast food restaurant chooses Laois for one of its first Irish restaurants.
Laois is about to get a taste of real Louisiana fast food chicken, with the opening of a Popeyes restaurant in Portlaoise.
Popeyes UK and Ireland recently opened its first Irish outlet in Blanchardstown on 6 June, with a second due to open in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre shortly.
Within weeks, Portlaoise is next, with Applegreen’s first Popeyes to open at Midway, Junction 17 on the M7 at Portlaoise in the next few weeks.
Popeyes is an award-winning brand with more than 50 years of heritage. It is known for its authentic Southern hospitality and signature hand-breaded and battered famous ‘shatter crunchin’ chicken. The company is one of the world’s fastest-growing chicken quick service restaurant brands, operating from with around 5,400 restaurants in 50 countries worldwide, with annual sales of $8 billion.
Applegreen has signed an agreement with the company to Applegreen open a series of Popeyes® chicken restaurants at its service stations. They say that their €6 m investment will create up to 450 new jobs in the coming four years.
Seamus Stapleton, Managing Director of Applegreen’s Republic of Ireland business.
“We are delighted to add Popeyes to our growing portfolio of high-quality brands in the Irish market.
“At Applegreen we’re committed to raising the bar for roadside hospitality and offering great food and world‑class service to people on the move. Popeyes is a fantastic addition to the Applegreen offer and we can’t wait to open our first Popeyes outlet at Midway later this summer.”
Popeyes UK and Ireland Chief Development Officer is Tom Byng.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Applegreen as we roll out new restaurants across the Republic of Ireland. The partnership will allow us to reach more consumers on the move and marks an exciting milestone in our journey to bring our much-loved shatter crunchin’ chicken to Irish customers,” he said.
Applegreen has been working with Popeyes in the United States since 2021 and currently operates 24 of its chicken restaurants at travel plaza locations in Delaware, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Popeyes entered the UK market in 2021 and has already grown to over 110 restaurants there, with 3,500 employees, and generating sales of over £118 million in 2024, up from £15 million in 2022. Popeyes UK was named Europe’s No.1 fastest growing company in the food and beverage industry, according to the Financial Times latest FT1000 ranking.
The Applegreen business currently employs about 16,900 people and it has further plans for growth in all of its major markets as it is currently engaged in a €1 billion expansion programme. It had a turnover of almost €4 billion last year and serves about 180 million customers annually.