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She shouldn't even use the Popeye name. Like you pointed out, that would only open up a can of legal worms.
Just continue buying from them as a regular customer.
Then on her menu, say something like "crispy, spicy, delicious and now notorious :-), Louisiana-style fried chicken .... freshly cooked at our friendly neighborhood kitchen .... " combined with waffles, home fries or whatever she serves it with.
I get that she's frustrated cause she worked hard to get where she's at but I think she needs to be more careful with her marketing claims because one day someone is going to call you up on it. On one of her SM post she even used the hastags "scratch" and "homemade" in advertising the plate with the chicken. She has since removed this posting and had to revise her claims of everything made from scratch to 95%. She should also refrain from making any claims about Popeye's as misrepresenting them could bring legal action.
What's sad is those who don't see anything wrong with it. Suppose it was McDonald's Chicken Mcnuggets. Or just go buy a bunch of Big Macs and sell them as "Mom's Homemade Hamburgers" is the same thing too? Integrity is what the fuss is about. Whether they freshly prepare everything isn't the issue. It's lying about it that is. And yep, you can quibble all you want about how the board was marked, but it's still a lie.
No, it is not the same. She didn't buy a box of drumsticks from Popeye's and simply put it in a different box and sell it as is. She used the chicken as a base for meals she was making. It's the same as some who buy chicken from Costco and use it in their meals. Or how Applebee's (yuck) buys pre-fried chicken wings in bulk from a third-party. Or, actually, it's the exact same as your local pizza place: they're not in the kitchen cooking sausage and pepperoni; they buy that stuff pre-cooked, pre-made, and then incorporate them in their dish (pizza.) And they still get away with saying it's "home-made" pizza, made from scratch, etc. etc.. She buys pre-fried chicken from her favorite place and uses it in her meals. How is it any different? Would this be a story if she bought it from Sysco instead? I'm sure it wouldn't taste nearly as good.
I read this story and at first I was taken aback as well, thought it was wrong. Then I read this article containing the following quote:
“We wrote it on our board in the restaurant, ‘Imported from Louisiana this week, thank you Popeyes.’ It wasn’t a secret. We use the chicken as an ingredient in a menu item we made, we don’t use their sauces or anything else.
Seems to me they were deceiving anyone, they made it very clear on the board displayed in the restaurants that the chicken came from Popeyes. It also appears as if they were not simply taking it out of the box and serving, they use it as a base for a chicken dish they serve.
And of course not having a "proper kitchen" hardly means it is a health violation, in this case it simply mean they do not have a deep fryer.
What does it matter if it's only being used as an ingredient for a different recipe? If you get a chicken pot pie and they used rotisserie chicken from the grocery store instead of roasting their own chicken would it matter?
Even though I pointed it out on my very first post, no surprise people keep making the same erroneous comparison between what this woman did, and what other restaurants do when they buy bulk items from Costco or grocery stores to use in their meals.
Restaurants use bulk items like chicken and other name brand ingredients like Morton's Salt from stores to create their meals all the time. Nothing wrong with this at all, that's what stores are for.
However, buying food prepared from another restaurant and misrepresenting it as your own home cooked meal, and marking up the price, if anyone out there can't see how unethical this is, you really must enjoy trolling on these topics just to be that person that always has to stubbornly disagree against common sense. You know, just because you can.
If there was nothing wrong with what she did, then why did she subsequently feel the need to, after being outed, disclose on their food board that they use Popeye's? Why did she feel the need to readjust her claims of all her meals being completely home made? Why did she feel the need to reach out to Popeye's to get permission to do what she was doing (they haven't responded back yet)? These are not the actions of someone that thinks they did nothing wrong at all either from a legal or ethical perspective.
Frankly, I don't see anything wrong with what she did.
I love the taste of Popeye's chicken. She used the Popeye's chicken as a base for some of her dishes. Then combined other delicious looking food with it. Served in a nice restaurant. At a nice, probably high-rent location. I'd say, markup justified.
Look at the other food they serve. The pictures look pretty enticing. I would definitely go and eat there.
I think this is just the news media making a mountain out of a molehill. Or maybe a competing restaurant trying to bring down the competition.
I wouldn't be surprised if this publicity will actually bring them more business.
From what I saw of the pictures of the food and the decor, I would love to eat there.
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