A US fried chicken chain is planning to create 600 jobs at six new restaurants and says thousands more jobs will be created in the coming years.
Popeyes has announced plans to open restaurants in Nottingham, Gateshead, Oxford, Brighton, Ealing and Reading, adding to the 3,600 it already has around the world.
Management say they want to open hundreds more sites over the next decade in UK shopping malls, high streets and ‘drive thru’ locations, creating thousands more posts.
The business was founded in New Orleans in 1972, and moved into the UK last November in Stratford, plus delivery kitchens in areas such as Bermondsey, Maida Vale and Whitechapel. A new Chelmsford site opened this month and a Romford restaurant opens in July.
Popeyes UK chief executive Tom Crowley said: “It’s such an exciting time for the brand, and we have even bigger plans in the works – we’re dedicating a lot of focus currently to our rollout of drive-thrus alongside our strong pipeline of sit-down restaurants.
“Accelerating our UK growth strategy in this way enables us to provide a much-needed jobs boost to the hospitality economy across both construction and hospitality roles.
“Across these six sites, we’re expecting to provide 600 employment opportunities, and we’re already eyeing our next raft of locations with announcements due imminently.”
The UK represents the 11th new market for Popeyes across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where the chain has already opened hundreds of new sites as part of its global expansion.
Just six months in the Stratford restaurant is reported to be its highest-performing restaurant in the world.
The new Nottingham restaurant will be in Upper Parliament Street, while the Gateshead site is in the Metrocentre.
