As much as we "love that chicken from Popeyes," it's the last thing we expect when we're going to brunch. That's the reason one popular Long Beach restaurant is being criticized.
According to FOX, Sweet Dixie Kitchen is a small breakfast restaurant specializing in comfort food with a southern influence. The influence seems to be pretty direct in the chicken department. When one customer ordered chicken and waffles, they were in for a surprise. Taking to Yelp, one user by the name of Tyler H. called the restaurant out.
“Before my friends and I got seated [at the restaurant] we saw them quickly bring in two large boxes of Popeyes to the kitchen."
“I kindly asked our waiter how they cooked their fried chicken. After checking he admitted that they do in fact use Popeyes,” Tyler H. continued in his review. “The manager compensated us for the entire meal.”
The owner of Sweet Dixie Kitchen saw the review and quickly defended the restaurant's choice of chicken.
“We PROUDLY SERVE Popeye’s spicy tenders — the best fried chicken anywhere and from New Orleans — which are delivered twice a day. We also in case you need to know buy our gumbo from a friend who sells it at a local farmers market,” Sanchez said in her response.
“We promote usually small batch local producers in our menu. The exception is Popeyes – we can’t fry at this location – and it the fried chicken I love so much and I ate a ton of it in the ATL. So I serve it,” she continued, adding that they “don’t mill our own flour” or “grow our own veggies” either.
The restaurant claims that "roughly 95%" of their food is made in-house. However, they won't apologize for the chicken.
“I would be glad to put Popeyes on my menu. I walk in through the front door carrying the bag of chicken. The customers know where it’s from. Popeyes knows.” Sanchez said going forward she will continue to sell the chicken on her menu and vows that she will continue the business “the same way we have always done- honest that we make nearly all from scratch.”
Since FOX ran the story about the restaurants chicken, many people have taken to Yelp to complain.
"Went to this establishment over a year ago but after hearing about the Popeyes scandal I feel taken advantage of. How can a restaurant resell/reheat a fast food chain like Popeyes and charge even more on top?" One Yelp user wrote. "I'm pretty sure multiple health violations occur in the transport of this out of house chicken. The fact the owner is defending her shady backdoor chicken is even more ridiculous. You'd think this was an Onion article headline but sadly it's true."
The question has to be posed, y'all couldn't tell this was Popeyes chicken before?
Another Yelper wrote "Lmao I can't. I just can't with them. I want to see the contract between this restaurant & Popeyes to know what percentage of $$ Popeyes is getting from this restaurant to be so proudly serving their chicken."
For now, the restaurant will continue to serve Popeyes, and we have a feeling that despite the outrage, many people will continue to eat there.
How would you feel if your favorite brunch spot served food from another establishment? Are people overreacting? Should this restaurant be called out by Popeyes? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
