Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen Re-Entering the San Angelo Market

Within the next two weeks, the former Grandy’s location, 109 N Koenigheim St., will be no more. “We start demolition of the entire building in two weeks or so,” said Sam Lawson, general partner, Brutus, LTD, in Midland.

A large, sit-down Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen restaurant will soon be built there. “We’re razing the building and will build a completely new one in its place,” said Lawson. This will be the third Popeye’s franchised location that Brutus owns. The other two are in Midland and Odessa. The San Angelo Popeye’s is scheduled to open Oct. 1," said Lawson.

This Popeye’s will be a larger operation than what is seen in most cities. San Angelo’s will have a seating capacity of 66. Regular-sized Popeye’s usually seat 40, Lawson said. The San Angelo Popeye’s will have a single drive-through.

Lawson’s company also operates the Burger Kings in San Angelo. “We’re the West Texas franchisee for that and Popeye’s,” Lawson said. He said he has 13 Burger Kings from San Angelo, the Midland/Odessa region, Fort Stockton, and Hobbs, NM.

San Angelo formerly was home to two Popeye’s locations up until another franchisee went belly-up in 2007. The buildings are now home to locally owned Julio’s Burritos Restaurants. It doesn’t escape Lawson that Popeye’s failed in San Angelo.

“I know why those Popeye’s failed, and I won’t get into it,” Lawson said.

Lawson said the fast food industry has changed drastically during his 20 years in the business. He learned the fast food business Dallas, and moved to West Texas when he was ready to go out on his own.

“The business is really price sensitive,” Lawson said. The key to overcoming that, Lawson explained is, “you want the customer to know that they’re getting great value. It’s much tougher today than it was 20 years ago.”

“The cost of beef is through the roof and chicken prices are out of control,” he said. "It’s to the point that fast food places cannot make money off the $1 menu. You have to package the products just right, price them right, and run a tighter ship," Lawson explained.

“San Angelo has been an excellent market for Burger King, we’re making great numbers there” Lawson said, explaining that the recent remodel of the San Angelo Burger King restaurants has paid off well for his company.

Lawson said that San Angelo is his best market primarily because of the labor pool. “San Angelo has the best people in our system,” he said. The Midland area has become problematic for hiring fast food employees because of the wage pressure caused by high paying oilfield jobs. San Angelo has some wage pressure, but not nearly as extreme as Midland," Lawson said.

“I try to pay better than the competition. We offer better benefits, because we want to have the best employees we can get,” Lawson said, adding that the competition for good fast-food workers is intense, no matter the market.

Lawson said that in addition to the popular spicy chicken recipe, Popeye’s key to success hinges on two unique menu items: Red beans and rice and piping hot double-buttered biscuits. “Those are the signatures,” Lawson said.

Looking for a job?

Popeye’s will be hiring soon. Look for signs at the location.

Popeye's was founded in 1972 in a suburb of New Orleans. Today, there are over 2,000 locations worldwide.