Popeyes’ New ‘Sunday Scaries’ Menu Is Back — Here’s What to Know

Even if you haven’t heard the term “Sunday Scaries,” you’ve definitely experienced them. Whether it’s kids facing an early Monday morning at school after the debauchery of the weekend or adults facing the start of another grinding work week, Sundays are saddled with a dread so unique that it has its own moniker. And as summer vacation season draws to a close and everyone slinks back into a weekly routine, Popeyes aims to draw us out of our despair with a new “Sunday Scaries” menu full of deep-fried diversions. 

From Sunday, August 18 to Sunday, September 8 at participating Popeyes locations nationwide, customers who spend at least $10 online or in the Popeyes app can receive a free chicken sandwich along with their purchase. These orders can be for pickup or delivery; you just need to order using a registered Popeyes account. If you play your cards right, you can alleviate weeks’ worth of Sunday Scaries in a row. 

Beyond a desire to help customers embrace the end of the weekend, Popeyes clearly has another motive for designing a Sunday-specific promotion. The company takes care to note in its press release, “We’re open on Sundays, and we’re here to bring a little comfort to Sunday Scaries — in the form of fried chicken.” That’s quite the barb, if you know what you’re looking for. 

By positioning itself as the fried chicken chain “open on Sundays,” Popeyes is throwing jabs directly at Chick-fil-A, its top competitor, whose religious ownership has kept the fast food chain closed on Sundays in observance of the Christian Sabbath since the restaurant’s inception in 1946. No fried chicken makes for a very scary Sunday indeed. 

Taking such digs at Chick-fil-A is hardly Popeyes punching down, however. Chick-fil-A remains the third largest fast food chain in America by total sales, whereas Popeyes sits in 15th place, nestled between Sonic Drive-In and KFC. Even with the viral success of the Popeyes chicken sandwich, and even with Chick-fil-A being open 52 fewer days per year (plus Christmas and Thanksgiving), the latter still has the upper hand. So it makes sense that a fellow fried chicken brand would try to snatch up the Sunday business that its rival is leaving on the table. 

This Sunday Scaries chicken sandwich giveaway isn’t the only new development at Popeyes this summer. In June, the chain announced that it would be changing its restaurants to make them easier to run. Some of the tweaks include automating the chicken battering process, altering the kitchen layout, and using technology that can better handle an influx of digital orders. The ultimate goal is to make ordering at Popeyes a more consistent, more efficient experience for all involved — and that’s good news no matter which day of the week you visit.