Goodbye Popeye's Crispy Chicken Sandwich, We Hardly Knew Ye

The Popeyes Crispy Chicken Sandwich shone bright and fast this month. What started as a Twitter spat between fried chicken chains over a new menu addition turned into a meme and then evolved into a full-blown frenzy. Lines formed around blocks, employees were pushed beyond their limits, and our FOMO was all too real. It shouldn’t be surprising to learn that Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s, and KFC all saw sales spikes thanks to all the foodies conducting at-home taste tests.

But today, Popeyes has announced that it’s all chicken-sandwiched out. At least for now. In a triumphant Twitter video, Popeyes ran its victory lap proclaiming, “You ate ‘em all” and, “Legit proud.”

If, like Gayle King, you’ve hit up all your local Popeyes only to leave the joint sans sandwich, this video will make you feel worse: Footage of mukbangers with mountains of sandwiches and couples exchanging bites in a Popeyes booth are enough to make you cry. This is true heartbreak, and the ultimate fear of missing out realized.

Thankfully, Popeyes has promised that the sandwiches will come back and stay on the menu this time. To stay updated on when The Sandwich will make its messianic return, Popeyes wants you to download its app and activate push notifications.

The pursuit of The Sandwich seems to have brought out a side of us we didn’t know cared so much about fried chicken sandwiches. Like, for a hot second, we cared a lot. Perhaps we need a cooling off period. We might not be ready to live in a world where The Sandwich is readily available, at least not yet. But if absence really makes the heart grow fonder, it’s Popeyes who needs to get ready.