Popeyes chicken sandwiches canada

People are upset that Popeyes in Toronto doesn't have the new chicken sandwiches

Few things annoy Canadians like watching our American counterparts go insane over something we don't yet have, whether it be a streaming service (like Hulu), a retailer, (like Trader Joe's), or — more often than not — a fast food item (like literally everything on the menu at Shake Shack.)

And when the brand behind one of those "somethings" happens to based Canada, but is only available south of the border? That stings double bad.

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, a subsidiary of the Toronto-based holding company Restaurant Brands International, is inexplicably withholding its immensely popular new chicken sandwich from customers in Toronto.

Customers have, predictably, been quite upset to learn this upon arriving at local Popeyes locations in search of the internet-famous menu item.

Sure, chicken sandwiches abound in this city of all the food, but none of them are as talked-about right now as the fried chicken sandwich launched by Popeyes on August 12 — and Torontonians want to know why.

Endorsed by celebrities such as rapper Cardi B and Migos member Quavo, who picked up a pile of the perpetually sold out sandwiches on Saturday to sell for $1,000 a pop, the fried chicken on buttered brioche buns has been inspiring lineups across the U.S. for weeks.

Are they worth the considerable amount of hype they've getting on social media? I don't know. I live in Toronto — which, incidentally has no less than 50 Popeyes locations.

Tasty or not, they're getting a lot of buzz thanks to the chicken brand's Twitter chops and public rivalries with Chick-Fil-A and Wendy's.

With the latter company set to open its first Canadian location in Toronto any day now, it's not a great time for Popeyes to be ticking off consumers in Canada. ​

If history is any indication, we'll see the viral chicken sandwich on Canadian turf before long.

Whether people will still care to try it at that point remains to be seen.

Lead photo by

Vaishnavi Srikumar


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