Popeyes Chicken located in Trader Ridge is set to open on June 26. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

Popeyes chicken

Popeyes restaurant in Grande Prairie set to open June 26

Jun 19, 2020 | 12:24 PM

After much anticipation among Grande Prairie residents, Popeyes is set to open next week.

EverythingGP has been confirmed that Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (known for it’s fried chicken) located in Trader Ridge will open its doors to the public for the first time on Friday, June 26.

Kayla Spencer is the Marketing Coordinator with Synergy Franchising, the company that owns Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in northern Alberta. She explained how and why it was important for them to bring Popeyes to northern Alberta.

“Our two owners fell in love with the product. They were down in the United States and tried it and said, ‘we have to have this up here.’ They worked out an agreement to get the rights for northern Alberta. It’s strictly because they loved the product so much, they ended up bringing it up.”

“We are really excited to be in the City of Grande Prairie. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for a couple years now. I think it’ll be something new and bring some Cajun flare to Grande Prairie, and I think it’ll be an interesting new dining experience for everyone.”

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With the grand opening next Friday, Spencer tells EverythingGP that they expect a lot of people to attend and they are prepared to the crowds that await.

She noted that inside the restaurant, people in line ordering food will need to keep with physical distancing (markers will be placed on the floor) and orders placed will only be allowed for takeout.

Customers will not be allowed to sit at any tables inside the restaurant. This is a practice that is being used at Popeyes locations throughout northern Alberta.

Those who don’t want to go inside the restaurant won’t have to worry as there is a drive-thru located at the location.

“Our grand opening this time around is going to be different than our typical ones because we are going to be encouraging social distancing. With COVID-19 going on we are just taking every precaution necessary to keep guests and our employees safe,” explained Spencer. “I expect it to be quite busy and especially with the new chicken sandwich that’s going to be there the first day that we open, I expect there to be quite a crowd.”

As Spencer said, Popeyes extremely popular chicken sandwich will be available at the grand opening next Friday.

Last week, Popeyes Canada announced that the City of Edmonton, as well as Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Lloydminster, and Fort Saskatchewan will be the first stores in the country to test the popular chicken sandwich.

Spencer mentioned that the launch of the chicken sandwich at their Edmonton locations have been so popular, that they are selling 8,000 to 10,000 chicken sandwiches per day.

Popeyes will join the likes of Starbucks and Edo Japan that have already opened in the new facility in Trader Ridge, along with the New Horizon Co-op grocery store, gas bar and liquor store.

Other businesses like a dental office and a nail salon are also slated to open in the facility.

Spencer says that the store will eventually expand to food delivery apps like SkipTheDishes in the coming months, once the location has been open up for a while.

The hours for the Popeyes grand opening are still being worked out., but Spencer says she expects the restaurant to open up at 11:00 a.m. on Friday morning.