The Drive-Thru officially opened at 11am on Monday, with the launch seeing customers queue the length of 2 football pitches throughout the retail park for its famous Chicken Sandwiches.
The first few lucky customers through the door on day one, won the ultimate prize of free Chicken Sandwiches for a whole year, and the first 25 vehicles within the drive-thru lane and the first 25 pedestrians in the eat-in queue were rewarded with a free Chicken Sandwich and exclusive car-themed Popeyes UK merchandise.
Elizabeth and Victoria Adeosun, mother and daughter local to Rotherham, were the first through the drive-thru and Jamie Poon the first pedestrian through the doors of the new restaurant, bagging themselves free Chicken Sandwiches for a year after queuing from 4am this morning.
Victoria, the winner of free Chicken Sandwiches for a year, said: “I have been to both the Leicester and London Popeyes restaurants, so when I heard that Popeyes was opening near home, I had to be one of the first in the queue, so I made my mum [Elizabeth] get up and come to the opening.”
Jamie Poon, winner of free Chicken Sandwiches for a year, added: “I found out about the competition a few months ago on Twitter and I have been keeping an eye on updates of the Rotherham opening ever since. I arrived at 4am and I can’t wait to try my first ever Popeyes Chicken Sandwich.”
Mardi Gras style band, the Brass Funkeys, who have performed at Glastonbury and Ronnie Scott’s, provided a New Orleans party vibe as the doors were opened for the first time, alongside an orange carpet, hundreds of freebies and limited-edition car-themed merchandise handed out to those attending the official launch.
Neil Williamson, Chief Operating Officer at Popeyes UK said: “We’ve seen some great excitement for the Rotherham launch with fans queuing up from 4am for our Chicken Sandwich. We can’t wait to see the buzz continue to grow and for more people to try the Popeyes ‘shatter crunch’ for themselves. We will also be launching the breakfast menu at the Rotherham drive-thru and we’re looking forward to seeing how this is received as the breakfast offering becomes a staple at more of our restaurants across the UK.”
