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Popeyes jumps on GameStop phenom with 'tendies' promo

A Popeyes in Harlem, New York City. (Photo: iStock)

February 2, 2021

If there's an internet storm, QSRs want in on it, which is precisely why Popeyes has hitched a ride on all the ballyhoo around GameStop stock. That all began last week when amateur investors began using Reddit to put out information designed to push up the stock price of that video game retailer (along with AMC theaters and others). The phenomenon was intended to drive up the price of stock in companies, like GameStop, that big finance-backed hedge funds were trying to short.

It continues to bubble and boil, so fried chicken QSR, Popeyes, jumped on with a promotion that more or less sides with the "little guy" investors of the GameStop phenom and the world at large. Popeyes "#Tendies4Yall" promotion, turns stock tickers into promotional codes, like $GME for GameStop, according to Popeyes.

When customers use the codes with the brand's app, they can get the quintessential "Everyman" meal — a three-piece chicken tenders order — at no charge, as long as they also buy at least $5 of other items at Popeyes.

An AdWeek report said the Gut agency developed the campaign using the word, "tendies," because aside from being short for chicken "tenders," it's also slang for investment gains.