The hometown favorite goes face to face with the come-from-away multinational primarily based in Miami
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Shirley Williamson and Dianne Bottomley by no means purchased into the Popeyes craze, not even when the American Louisiana-style rooster chain made its foray into Atlantic Canada two-and-a-half years in the past.
It landed proper of their yard in Bedford, N.S., an prosperous suburb of Halifax, and town was clearly ready for it. On opening day, an infinite stream of autos snaked by way of the car parking zone, snarling visitors in a close-by roundabout and stretching again practically a kilometre to the primary freeway that encircles the capital.
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Although intrigued by the insanity, Williamson and Bottomley weren’t persuaded to hitch in. They had been completely content material with what they already had: Mary Brown’s Rooster.
Give the homegrown chain the sting right here, however there’s a rising rivalry brewing in Atlantic Canada between the as soon as hometown favorite Mary Brown’s Inc. and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc., the come-from-away multinational primarily based in Miami.
Since its East Coast debut, Popeyes has added six extra eating places within the area. Earlier this 12 months, its mother or father firm, Restaurant Manufacturers Worldwide Inc., introduced plans for 800 new places by 2028, bringing the chain as much as 4,200 places in the US and Canada.
Mary Brown’s, based 55 years in the past in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, has plans to open 4 eating places in Atlantic Canada by year-end and one other 20 in 2025. Total, it has round 300 eating places throughout Canada and none within the U.S.
The rivalry is not any secret. Mary Brown’s overtly admits it.
“Mary Brown’s goes face to face with Popeyes,” its web site says. The positioning is dedicated to explaining the variations between the 2 franchises, each by way of the rooster choices and some great benefits of shopping for into the homegrown franchise.
Posthaste
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However convincing Eder Rivas to get off the Popeye practice may very well be a tough promote. The Mexico Metropolis native has been dwelling in Halifax for a decade and hadn’t even heard of Mary Brown’s. There was a Popeyes again dwelling and the 41-year-old was glad to be reunited with the model.
“I keep in mind seeing the signal and pondering, ‘OK, you might have Popeyes now, that’s nice,’” he mentioned.
The crunchiness of the batter is what will get him. That, and the honey mustard dip.
“It’s actually addictive,” he mentioned.
However Jeff Barlow, chief advertising and marketing officer of Mary Brown’s Rooster, mentioned he’s glad to tackle the competitors.
“We welcome it, and let the company determine what they like or don’t like,” he mentioned. “We’re a distinct type of product, I consider. We type of observe our personal technique, our personal means of doing issues in how we put together our meals. I feel the company can style the distinction.”
Barlow mentioned Popeyes’ presence hasn’t harm Mary Brown’s backside line. Certainly, the previous 4 years have been one of the best within the firm’s historical past, he mentioned. Whereas he wouldn’t share figures for the privately owned firm, he mentioned gross sales progress has been not less than single-digit, and typically double-digit.
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Most of that progress has are available in Atlantic Canada, however there are plans to increase outdoors North America. Franchises are earmarked for Eire, Mexico, India and Pakistan in 2025.
With out naming names, Barlow mentioned Mary Brown’s does issues higher than the competitors. To begin, its rooster is lower in-store, butcher-style. It’s been that means from day 1, he mentioned. He added it additionally provides greater items of rooster than the opposite guys and its taters are recent from the farmer’s discipline.
“We lower them by hand and in retailer for optimum freshness,” he mentioned. “Plenty of others will absorb frozen product: freezer to frier, because the saying goes.”
Competitors’s been good for Mary Brown’s, Barlow mentioned. He factors again to the rooster sandwich wars, a North American craze spearheaded by Popeye’s in 2019. Mary Brown’s used it as a chance to showcase its iconic Huge Mary sandwich and launch new merchandise, such because the Okay-Crunch Asian-inspired sandwich.
“We paid consideration to it and we marketed to the hype on the time,” he mentioned. “Comparable rivals simply enhance the class of rooster, that means if there was a hamburger conflict, the hamburger product could be elevated and would improve gross sales.”
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Popeyes isn’t saying a lot publicly about its plans for Atlantic Canada, however one employee mentioned one other restaurant was slated to open in Dartmouth, N.S., in December, after which one other quickly after in Sydney, Cape Breton.
One factor is definite: the rooster wars will proceed. Rob Manuel, common supervisor of Popeyes Canada, mentioned in an electronic mail that the corporate didn’t have any “improvement information” to share, however that it’s all the time taking a look at additional growth alternatives throughout the nation. Popeyes’ gross sales in North America topped $5.8 billion final 12 months.
Erica Rideout is one shopper hoping to see extra Popeyes in Nova Scotia. She particularly likes its tenders, normally gentle, typically spicy. Their spicy blackened ranch is phenomenal, she mentioned. Popeyes is the cooler, taking place place, she mentioned.
“Mary Brown’s has been round for a very long time, and I don’t suppose Mary Brown’s has performed something new in a very very long time,” she mentioned. “I by no means suppose, ‘Oh, let’s go to Mary Brown’s.’ However I don’t see it going away any time quickly, both.”
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That may hold Shirley Williamson and Dianne Bottomley glad. The pair of previous buddies proceed have a twice-monthly get-together: a little bit of buying, punctuated by lunch at Mary Brown’s. Infrequently, they’ll enterprise into Popeyes for a chunk, however they’ve not been swayed.
Like final week, once they confirmed up at Popeyes. Williamson ordered two rooster breasts; Bottomley purchased rooster tenders.
“Mary Brown’s is simply higher,” Williamson mentioned. “The rooster items are a lot better, not as greasy. The rooster breasts are greater.”
Her sidekick agreed.
“Mary Brown’s has one of the best taters,” she mentioned. “I don’t know why; they’re simply tastier, extra tender.”
• E-mail: arankin@postmedia.com
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