My complaint:
My family goes to Popeyes frequently during the week at another location, but was driving by the one on 2560 Iowa Street, Lawrence Kansas and decided to go through the drive thru. They open at 10:30 and we placed our order for 2 spicey chicken sandwiches, a tackle shrimp basket and a 3 piece spicy chicken tender meal. We placed our order at 11:05 and needed to be somewhere by 11:30. There was one car in front of us and 2 cars behind us. We got our drinks and was told to pull forward while our order was being prepared. We did and watched 3 cars behind us receive their orders and leave. We had a good view of the inside of the restaurant and saw a table of 5 eating and a table of 2 eating. No other customers in line or at tables. After the 4th car left with their food at 11:20, I decided to go in and see if they forgot about us. I was told that they were still waiting for one of the chicken sandwiches to be finished and it would be another 10 minutes. I told them that we needed to leave and just give us what they had in the bag. A very unprofessional, I assume manager (since he had on a different shirt then the other workers) offered a refund for the missing sandwich with no other explanation or apology.
My concern is this…. when does it take 25 minutes to make a chicken patty at a fast food restaurant? And why have a manager that is just standing around and not trying to help the staff get the orders out in a timely manner? When I went ask about the order there were no one in line and no other customers at the tables…They seemed to have plenty of staff : Manager, worker at the drive through, worker at the front and 3 workers that I could see in the back. There was no apparent lunch rush..so why the delay? We’ve placed this same order at other Popeyes with no issues…so Why?
After getting home we realized that they didn’t even get the order right that they had packed…No spicey tenders and no sauces…Just a fail.
They need to do better. Especially with the competition close by on the same street. For example Chic-fil-A, Raising Canes, Buffalo Wild Wings and even Dairy Queen serves chicken tenders.
Suggested solution:
Popeyes should visit the staff and retrain or educate the staff on what customer service looks like and have the manager be trained on how to troubleshoot problems with food delay...especially through the drive thru. Also he needs to learn how to professionally deal with customers that are upset for their poor performance.
If the current staff is unable to get better...then get new staff...I'm sure in a college town like Lawrence, there are plenty of people that want to work.
