Popeye's
Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:03 am
Seriously. They need to pack it in.
There are two locations in Toledo, on near downtown, one in the nicer west side.
The kid loves their spicy chicken tenders. And since he's a picky eater, when he finds something he likes, I do my best to get him that as often as possible to balance the healthier stuff I force him to eat at home the majority of the time. So, on Wednesdays, he has piano practice after school, taking us close to the dinner hour. As our commute home takes us near downtown, Wednesday becomes the day to pick up Popeye's on the way home.
I am going to base these conclusions on about 15 visits. Maybe 10. 10-15. One time, we were able to order at the drive through, and were gone with our order in less than 5 minutes. But FAR more typical is a 20-30 minute wait. Even after we order I would often ask him, "You sure you want to wait? We can go somewhere else." But no, he wants to wait, and no one else ever leaves the line, either. It's Popeye's, dog.
Anyway, sometimes they're nice, and right when you order you get ebonics, "We only 2 people today, gonna be slow." Ok, thanks for the heads up.
Speaking of ebonics, I mentioned this location is near downtown. Security lazy-susan at the drivethrough window, counter-to-ceiling plexiglass inside, and you communicate through a speaker. And that's fine. Thieves are scum, and we do what we must. But the staff us fabulous and urban, and I think they try hard, but it frequently takes them 30 minutes to fill an order.
OK, anyway.
Twice now, we've been on the other side of town, near the other location. SO we've hit it. First time wa the drive through, and it was wondrously only 10 minutes. And they got the order wrong.
The second time, we had time to kill before an appointment, so we went in.
Ok, here's the experience that made me decide that Popeye's needs to just give up, in the Toledo market.
We made a simple order, each of us chose a regular "number," no alterations.
We stood there and waited. After about 5 minutes, the girl says, "We waiting for your biscuits." Ok. I like biscuits. So we wait. My systems-analyst brain is going through what they screwed up, and what they should do to fix it. There's no reason you run out of biscuits when that's a common item you sell. It's a failure on multiple levels from cooks to management, affecting multiple things, not the least of which is public perception.
After another 4 minutes, next guy is waiting, "We waiting for the biscuits." He says he doesn't want to wait, and he has to go, and please give me my to-go bag. So they do.
I see no progress on biscuits, two workers are just standing around back there. "Hey, can we just go too? We can't stay long."
"Oh," she says, "You in the dining room right?"
"Yes."
"I just bring it."
"Ok, thanks."
She hands our trays over. "We had combos, we need drink cups."
She says nothing, just hands over the cups.
"And he wanted buffalo sauce."
Silence, just hands over a couple packs. And that's fine. She seems busy.
So we sit down at a table, the loose cigarette on the floor next to us, which would remain the entire visit. His order was wrong, he ordered spicy strips, he got reg. My order was wrong. I ordered spicy/all dark meat, I got regular, and got a wing and a breast. And no biscuit. We ate for about 15 minutes, she never brought any biscuits.
We sat there and counted all the things they screwed up on that visit, and I remembered 8 bullet points. It was a week ago, I don't remember them all. But in summary, Popeye's in Toledo needs to just give the fuck up.
There are two locations in Toledo, on near downtown, one in the nicer west side.
The kid loves their spicy chicken tenders. And since he's a picky eater, when he finds something he likes, I do my best to get him that as often as possible to balance the healthier stuff I force him to eat at home the majority of the time. So, on Wednesdays, he has piano practice after school, taking us close to the dinner hour. As our commute home takes us near downtown, Wednesday becomes the day to pick up Popeye's on the way home.
I am going to base these conclusions on about 15 visits. Maybe 10. 10-15. One time, we were able to order at the drive through, and were gone with our order in less than 5 minutes. But FAR more typical is a 20-30 minute wait. Even after we order I would often ask him, "You sure you want to wait? We can go somewhere else." But no, he wants to wait, and no one else ever leaves the line, either. It's Popeye's, dog.
Anyway, sometimes they're nice, and right when you order you get ebonics, "We only 2 people today, gonna be slow." Ok, thanks for the heads up.
Speaking of ebonics, I mentioned this location is near downtown. Security lazy-susan at the drivethrough window, counter-to-ceiling plexiglass inside, and you communicate through a speaker. And that's fine. Thieves are scum, and we do what we must. But the staff us fabulous and urban, and I think they try hard, but it frequently takes them 30 minutes to fill an order.
OK, anyway.
Twice now, we've been on the other side of town, near the other location. SO we've hit it. First time wa the drive through, and it was wondrously only 10 minutes. And they got the order wrong.
The second time, we had time to kill before an appointment, so we went in.
Ok, here's the experience that made me decide that Popeye's needs to just give up, in the Toledo market.
We made a simple order, each of us chose a regular "number," no alterations.
We stood there and waited. After about 5 minutes, the girl says, "We waiting for your biscuits." Ok. I like biscuits. So we wait. My systems-analyst brain is going through what they screwed up, and what they should do to fix it. There's no reason you run out of biscuits when that's a common item you sell. It's a failure on multiple levels from cooks to management, affecting multiple things, not the least of which is public perception.
After another 4 minutes, next guy is waiting, "We waiting for the biscuits." He says he doesn't want to wait, and he has to go, and please give me my to-go bag. So they do.
I see no progress on biscuits, two workers are just standing around back there. "Hey, can we just go too? We can't stay long."
"Oh," she says, "You in the dining room right?"
"Yes."
"I just bring it."
"Ok, thanks."
She hands our trays over. "We had combos, we need drink cups."
She says nothing, just hands over the cups.
"And he wanted buffalo sauce."
Silence, just hands over a couple packs. And that's fine. She seems busy.
So we sit down at a table, the loose cigarette on the floor next to us, which would remain the entire visit. His order was wrong, he ordered spicy strips, he got reg. My order was wrong. I ordered spicy/all dark meat, I got regular, and got a wing and a breast. And no biscuit. We ate for about 15 minutes, she never brought any biscuits.
We sat there and counted all the things they screwed up on that visit, and I remembered 8 bullet points. It was a week ago, I don't remember them all. But in summary, Popeye's in Toledo needs to just give the fuck up.