Applegreen to create up to 450 new jobs with Popeyes expansion

Popeyes UK and Ireland recently opened its first Irish outlet in Dublin, with a second due to open in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre

Applegreen has been working with Popeyes in the United States since 2021 and currently operates 24 of its chicken restaurants at locations in Delaware, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. File picture

Service station chain Applegreen is to create up to 450 jobs through the opening of a series of Popeyes chicken restaurants at its roadside locations.

Under the new agreement, Applegreen will invest about €6m to open Popeyes outlets over the next four years. Applegreen’s first Popeyes will open at Midway, Junction 17 on the M7 at Portlaoise in the next few weeks.

Popeyes UK and Ireland, which holds the master franchise, recently opened its first Irish outlet in Dublin, with a second due to open in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre shortly.

Applegreen has been working with Popeyes in the United States since 2021 and currently operates 24 of its chicken restaurants at locations in Delaware, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The company is one of the world’s fastest-growing chicken quick service restaurant brands, operating from with around 5,400 restaurants in 50 countries worldwide, with annual sales of $8bn (€6.8bn).

Their expansion in Ireland comes as increased competition from a number of other US-based fast food chains, with Taco Bell and Wendy's opening chains here in Ireland in recent months. McDonald's recently said it is planning a major expansion in Ireland with plans for 25 new outlets over the next five years.

Popeyes entered the UK market in 2021 and has already grown to over 110 restaurants there, with 3,500 employees, and generating sales of over £118m in 2024. Applegreen opened its first service station in Ballyfermot in Dublin in 1992 and now operates almost 200 locations in the Irish market. It is currently investing more than €30m each year on new store openings and upgrades.

Applegreen also has a significant business overseas, with operations in Britain and the United States, and a total of more than 435 locations and more than 700 branded food offers across its global network.  The business currently employs 16,900 people and it has further plans for growth in all of its major markets as it is currently engaged in a €1bn expansion programme. It had a turnover of almost €4bn last year and serves about 180m customers annually.

The company’s expansion plans are focused on acquiring and developing new sites in the markets in which it already operates, as well as upgrading and rebranding its existing locations.