Fast food lovers near and far will have a whole new reason to celebrate this spring. As of Tuesday, February 21, Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of the Burger King and Tim Horton’s chains, announced that they will be buying out the Popeye’s franchise for $1.8 billion.
The recent news broke the internet on Tuesday with an influx of tweets, status updates, and blog posts with shouts of praise for the behemoth fast-food fusion. Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen was founded in New Orleans in 1972 and has since grown into a full-fledged favorite of foodies all over the globe with over 2,600 chains worldwide.
For a more financial view of this mind-boggling breakthrough, Popeye’s shareholders will earn $79 for each share, creating a nearly 20% increase in the stock’s value the previous Friday. Restaurant Brands International CEO, Daniel Schwartz is eager about the Popeye’s purchase and is excited about “taking an already strong brand of and accelerating its pace of growth and opening new restaurants around the world.”
For Popeye’s, the purchase can only be considered a positive change now that even more cities around the world will have the opportunity to savor the taste of Louisiana’s favorite Cajun delicacy. Fried food fans would like Restaurant Brands to keep in mind, however, that they will take notice if there is even the slightest of adjustments to the menu or more importantly, the all-famous friend chicken recipe.
