The restaurant group behind Burger King has asked Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen to be its forever boo, and the fried chicken chain responded with: “Yeah.” In other words, Restaurant Brands International Inc., which owns Burger King and the Canadian donut and coffee chain Tim Horton’s, will acquire the Atlanta-based fried chicken chain for $1.8 billion.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen currently has more than 2,600 locations in the U.S. and across the globe, and the merger will add to Burger King/Tim Horton’s 20,000-plus locations worldwide. The restaurants will continue to be operated independently, though a company press release says it plans on “developing the (Popeyes) brand at an increasing pace in the U.S. and international markets in the years to come.” If we interpret this to mean more Popeyes everywhere—sweet!