Popeye, there are several in China.

On August 8, Popeyes, a well-known fried chicken brand among online celebrities, suddenly announced that its restaurants in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai would be closed on August 9. The reporter of National Business Daily noticed that on June 10, Popeye's parent company, Restaurant Brand International (RBI), issued a press release in official website, saying that Popeye and Descartes Capital Group (LLC) signed a non-binding list of terms on the exclusive development of Popeye brand in China in the next few years. If this transaction is completed, the operation right of Popeyes' China business will be changed from RBI to Descartes Capital, the trader of coffee brand Tim. According to public information, Popeye has more than 3,850 restaurants in more than 30 countries around the world. Descartes said in the aforementioned press release that he would be committed to providing a seamless in-store experience and providing guests with the iconic warm service of Popeye brand. Popeye's commercial operation rights in China may change hands. On August 8, some netizens shared the news of Popeye's closure on social platforms. Many stores in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai posted notices of store closure, which will be officially closed on August 9. Some netizens said that after entering the store, they heard the clerk shout "20 minutes left" and "10 minutes left". The sudden news of closing the store caught many customers off guard. On August 9, Popeye's official WeChat official account announced that it would not leave and would come back soon. As of August 1 1, Popeye has 9 stores in China. The reporter found through the Meituan platform that four of the six stores in Shanghai have closed down, only Huaihai Zhonglu Store and Maxim's United Plaza Store are still open, while the two stores in Hangzhou and the 1 store in Shang Ning all closed down. As for the specific reasons for closing the store, the phone number that the reporter dialed for closing the store was not answered. According to the telephone inquiry of official website customer service, the closing of the store was a temporary notice on the same day, and they didn't know the reason for closing the store. On August 1 1, the reporter called the front desk of Burger King's office again, and the other party said that they were in the same office as Popeye. When asked if there were any Popeye employees coming to work in the company, the other party didn't want to say much, and the reporter couldn't contact the relevant person in charge of Popeye through this phone. According to Popeyes China official website, TFI(Tab Food Investments) is the franchisee of Burger King and Popeyes brand in China. Eight years after the successful operation of Burger King brand, TFI introduced Popeye to Chinese mainland market. The front foot of the store closed, and then the parent company RBI also issued a press release saying that it would cooperate with Descartes Capital again. Once the transaction is completed, the operation right of Popeyes' China business will change hands from RBI to Descartes Capital. It is said that taking over Popeyes will help Popeyes to develop and expand its influence in major global markets. I had to wait in line for eight hours. This is not the first time Poeyes has closed its store in China market. According to media reports, Popeye opened its first store in Wangfujing on 1990 under the name of "pepys". In 20001year, the goal of opening 390 stores in three years was set, but it withdrew from the China market in 2003. In 2020, the operator TFI of Burger King pushed Popeye back to the China market. On the opening day of its flagship store in Shanghai, Popeye set an "eight-hour queue record". Raphael Coelho, CEO of Popeyes China, once boldly said: "The goal is to open more than 65,438+0,500 restaurants in the next 65,438+00 years." However, two years later, Popeye's localization process is not fast. There are only six in Shanghai, two in Hangzhou and Nanjing 1. The shop is not only slow to open, but also closed now. According to Interface News, RBI, the parent company of its brand, disclosed in the financial report released in mid-February 2022 that at the beginning of 2022, RBI was negotiating with the main franchise agreement parties of Burger King and Popeye in China to solve the "commercial dispute" in 20021. "Based on these discussions, we expect to agree to pay about $654.38 billion in 2022." RBI said that most of the funds are related to Popeyes, which is expected to solve the dispute between the two parties, "and enable us to develop in the China market with new major franchisees." RBI Popeye's new partner is Descartes. Peter Yu, managing partner of Descartes, said in a press release, "We are proud to develop the Popeye brand in China and bring its famous chicken sandwiches and iconic products to our guests in this extremely active market." He said: "We are very happy to have established a successful cooperative relationship with RBI for 65,438+00 years, including more than 450 Tim Hortons cafes that have developed rapidly in China." .