On Monday night, Popeyes employees in the Houston area were held at gunpoint for selling out of the famed restaurant chain’s latest fried chicken sandwich.
“Group of people with gun rushes door at [Popeyes Chicken] on Scott and Corder. They wanted the chicken sandwich, say employees. Employees were able to lock them out. [Houston Police] responded,” ABC affiliate reporter Jessica Willey posted to Twitter.
About a half-hour after Willey posted her tweet, the Twitter account for the Houston Police confirmed the reporting, writing: “Southeast officers are at 7100 Scott. Male pulled a gun on employees of restaurant after they ran out of chicken sandwich.”
According to NBC News, the incident occurred around 8:45 P.M. local time. One male, accompanied by four others reportedly in their late teens and early 20s, pulled out a gun and threatened workers when he was informed that they had been cleaned out of the desired chicken sandwich, police told the outlet. “The suspect did not fire the weapon and left before officers arrived. No one was injured, a police spokesperson said,” the report said.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen rolled out its latest chicken sandwich in August; the restaurant has been largely unable to keep up with the high demand, selling out at locations across the country.
The chicken sandwich deficit has sparked some extreme behavior. In a video posted online last month, a man can be seen jumping through a drive-through window and assaulting employees seemingly due to the restaurant’s having sold out of the chicken.
“Another Popeyes chicken sandwich fight!!! Bruh they need to ban that sandwich cus it’s like the Purge out here!!” one man captioned the viral video. “[Shaking my head]!!”
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As noted by NBC, others have even resorted to legal action for missing out on the advertised sandwich: “A Tennessee man filed a lawsuit against Popeyes last week alleging false advertising and ‘deceptive business practices by entity to public’ for selling out of the fried sandwich. Craig Barr is seeking $5,000 in damages, according to the suit. A court date has been set for Oct. 28.”
Fast-food freak-outs are not exclusive to Popeyes, however. For example, in October 2017, a special sauce from McDonald’s led to rioting.
The Szechuan sauce, which had been temporarily offered at the chain in 1998, was reintroduced after the popular show “Rick and Morty” featured the condiment, CNBC News reported last year. The product was met with “chaos at stores, as fans protested over a lack of supply,” the outlet said.
“Cops are at Wellington McDonalds where tons of angry people lined up for hrs for Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce only to learn they had none,” posted Palm Beach Post reporter Lulu Ramadan.
“We did not anticipate the overnight crowds, the cross-state travel and the amazing curiosity, passion and energy fans showed,” McDonald’s said in a statement at the time. “Our super-limited batch, though well-intentioned, clearly wasn’t near enough to meet that demand. We disappointed fans and we are sorry.”
McDonald’s brought back the dipping sauce in February 2018.