A local Popeyes is getting roasted on TikTok for constantly being closed up to 7 hours before its listed closing time. Surprise, surprise, it’s located in Florida.
At the beginning of the viral video, a man wanting to go into Popeyes is seemingly stopped at the door by an employee explaining that they were closed. Content creator @marthreenez_, who recorded the interaction from afar, said that when he pulled up to this local Popeyes they “were just not letting people in the door.”
Wondering why the location was closed, and people weren’t being allowed inside, @marthreenez_ confirmed the location’s hours on Yelp. According to the review site, the Popeyes was meant to be open for both dine-in and drive-through service from 10:30am to 11pm.
Yet, they were closed at 4pm—a whole 7 hours early.
The location’s Yelp reviews indicated that this was an ongoing issue. One reviewer said the fast food joint was always closed. “What a waste of a trip,” the person added. And despite having a total of 68 reviews, the location’s rating adds up to the minimum one star.
When @marthreenez_ finally pulls up to the window, a woman tells him that they’re closed at the moment.
@marthreenez_ decided to try ordering through the drive-thru since he clearly saw there were workers at the store. When he pulls up to the drive through there is a sign on the speaker instructing him to pull up to the window. He does and waits 5 minutes behind another car that ended up driving off without ever getting food handed to them.
“Popeyes is awful,” the TikToker said.
“They do this frequently. That’s why Popeyes is not better than Chik-fil-a,” @marthreenez_ concludes.
The video has more than 232,000 views and nearly 200 comments.
@marthreenez_
Some commenters joked that once the content creator mentioned Florida, “it was all over,” referring to the stereotype that Florida is a wild and wacky place.
Others offered their speculation for why the fast food chain may be closed. It’s likely tied to labor shortages in the industry. One person said it might be a money laundering scheme, while another questioned whether workers were striking in @marthreenez_’s city.
A Floridian chimed in, saying that it’s not just Popeyes that closes early. “Random chains or mom/pop are closed throughout the day.”
“Whataburger lowkey does the same thing,” @marthreenez_ replied in agreement.
The Daily Dot reached out to @marthreenez_ via Instagram DM. This was his response:
“They’ve just been closing at random times for years,” he said. “… Sometimes they ignore you until you go away lol you’re lucky if they let you know they’re closed. Sometimes you waste your time waiting for 20 minutes just to find out they don’t want to work.”