TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The first Popeyes restaurant opened with fanfare on Thursday (May 30).
The New Orleans fried chicken restaurant held an opening ceremony for guests and media before it opened at 11 a.m. Thursday morning. King Doyle Company CEO Tony Lin (林恩澤), who facilitated Popeyes to enter the Taiwan market, said, “I know you all have been waiting for Popeyes for a long time, but after a year, I am honored to announce that Popeyes has finally arrived.”
“Now Taiwanese no longer have to travel abroad to enjoy authentic Louisiana-style fried chicken,” Lin said.
The CEO said the secret to Popeyes Taiwan’s delicious food is using fresh ingredients and never taking shortcuts. “We use fresh chicken, never frozen. Each piece of chicken is marinated in Cajun seasonings for 12 hours and we flour it 20 times to ensure it remains juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside,” he said.
The restaurant uses 100% beef fat because it is flavorful and pairs well with chicken, he added.
QR codes are at each table to make ordering efficient. Restaurant staff stood ready to assist customers and to serve meals.
“We hope that customers will have a pleasant experience dining at Popeyes,” Lin said.
Lines for both to-go and dine-in wrapped around the restaurant, showing how excited Taiwanese were to get a taste of New Orleans in Taipei. Signature items on the menu include fried chicken, crispy chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, Cajun fries, buttermilk biscuits, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, and tomato soup.
During the first three days of opening (May 30 to June 1), Popeyes will offer the first 50 customers one free piece of fried chicken, and the first 20 customers will receive a custom Popeyes mobile phone lanyard set. Additionally, diners who join the Popeyes Line official account and purchase individual or multi-person set meals in the first three days will receive a free side dish, with a daily limit of 500.
The first day’s free side will be a biscuit. The second day will be Cajun fries, and the third day will be Taiwan green tea.
The restaurant is near Taipei Main Station at 30, Xuchang Street.
Popeyes was founded in New Orleans in 1972 and has opened over 4,300 restaurants in nearly 40 countries.
