Beyond a desire to help customers embrace the end of the weekend, Popeyes clearly has another motive for designing a Sunday-specific promotion. The company takes care to note in its press release, “We’re open on Sundays, and we’re here to bring a little comfort to Sunday Scaries — in the form of fried chicken.” That’s quite the barb, if you know what you’re looking for.
By positioning itself as the fried chicken chain “open on Sundays,” Popeyes is throwing jabs directly at Chick-fil-A, its top competitor, whose religious ownership has kept the fast food chain closed on Sundays in observance of the Christian Sabbath since the restaurant’s inception in 1946. No fried chicken makes for a very scary Sunday indeed.