Monday started off with a gut-punch if you’re a Chick-fil-a-vangelist, or a Popeyes worker on a perennially short-staffed shift: The Sandwich has announced its triumphant return to the fast-food restaurant’s menu.
The restaurant chain heralded the revival of its beloved chicken sandwich, easily the most buzzworthy fast-food meal of the year, with a new video that took shots at its fowl competitor on Twitter.
“The Sandwich is back Sunday, November 3rd. Then every day,” Popeyes tweeted on Monday morning. The date is significant: not only is it National Sandwich Day, but it’s also a day Chick-fil-a, thanks to its infamous corporate-reinforced sanctimony, will be closed.
Always one to toot its own horn (because why wouldn’t you when the chicken is that good?), Popeyes also referenced another GOAT with its press release, quoting Michael Jordan’s iconic March 1995 announcement, in which he sent a simple two-word fax to declare his return to the NBA—“I’m back.”
“The Chicken Sandwich was a massive hit selling out nationwide–dramatically surpassing even the most optimistic sales forecasts,” Popeyes wrote, “Since then, Popeyes has been diligently working to bring the beloved sandwiches back to restaurants for good.”
The sandwich caused no small amount of hysteria back in August when restaurants nationwide reportedly ran through a projected seven-week inventory in just two weeks. “The Sandwich” spurred numerous online odes to its delectability, as well as frustration at Popeyes counters from Brooklyn to Chattanooga from hungry customers, met with “sold out” signs. It even spurred a lawsuit; Craig Barr of Tennessee sued the restaurant.
“Who runs out of chicken? It’s a big fiasco,” Barr told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
I appreciate a good sabbatical to get your mind, your body, and your sandwich inventory right, but not as much as I appreciate an affordable meal comprised of a juicy, robust, and crunchy chicken filet betwixt two perfectly buttery buns—especially with all the madness (and budget crunching) of the holiday season around the corner.
Welcome back, friend.