Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen opened its new location on Monday at 2102 Missouri Blvd.
Photos posted to social media showed the location packed with cars early in the morning Monday. Customers also posted photos of chicken, fries and their receipts after eating at the new location. Later in the week, traffic was backed up onto Missouri Boulevard to the point employees had to direct traffic into and out of the drive-thru entrance.
Prior to its opening, the closest Popeye's location to Jefferson City was the Business Loop 70 location in Columbia.
The drive-thru fast-food restaurant opened in a newly constructed building at 2102 Missouri Blvd. on the former site of Johnny's Pizza & Steakhouse. Johnny's closed in January upon owner John Pardalos' retirement after 35 years in business. With the original building now demolished, Pardalos retains ownership of the property, which he leased to the Popeye's franchise.
Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen operates and franchises more than 2,000 restaurants worldwide, with about 70 percent of its U.S. restaurants concentrated in Texas, California, Louisiana, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Georgia, Virginia and Mississippi, according to the company's website.
The restaurant's menu features a variety of fried chicken and seafood options, sandwiches and wraps, along with sides including Cajun fries, red beans and rice, macaroni and cheese, and jambalaya.
Popeye's also offers a catering menu. The brand was founded in New Orleans in 1972 and is now the second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the world, according to the Popeye's website. The location is open 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m.