Popeyes Unveils Brightly-Colored, Tech-Heavy Design at Reopening of NOLA ‘Flagship’ Restaurant

After 50 years, 3,300 restaurants, and a major U.K. debut, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen still likes to remind fans of its New Orleans roots, whether via social media commentary or new menu items that nod to the city. On Monday, March 28, the company debuted its new digital-centric restaurant redesign, reopening New Orleans’s “flagship” store on Canal Street after a brightly colored, tech-heavy renovation.

The company says the downtown restaurant is the first-ever Popeyes to feature the new design, updates that include “self-order kiosks, order ready boards, and dedicated areas for digital order pickup,” as well as a color scheme of “Popeyes orange” and something called “NOLA teal.”

Paul Morse Photography/Popeyes

Paul Morse Photography

Executives and local managers held a ribbon cutting on Monday at the 621 Canal Street shop, alongside an obligatory brass band. The restaurant, at the corner of Canal and Exchange Place, opened in the 1970s and sits on the CBD edge of the French Quarter, basically serving as the downriver entrance to the neighborhood. That Popeyes is not actually the first local location, which is considered to be the Arabi restaurant opened by Al Copeland in 1972, but it is one of the first, downtown and centrally located, and considered by the company to be the city’s flagship.

Paul Morse Photography

Paul Morse Photography

The next restaurant to unveil the redesign will be the Popeyes at Times Square in New York, according to a press release.

Do you have a restaurant or pop-up tip? Noticed a spot in your neighborhood opening or closing? Let us know.