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Many of you kids will be too young to remember this – thank heavens. But five years ago on this very day, Rochester NY made national headlines when it was slammed by one of the worst food shortages in our nation’s history—possibly the world. That’s right. Popeyes up on Lake Ave ran out of chicken…

The chicken franchise was overrun with customers responding to an offer of eight pieces for $4.99. That’s one heck of a deal. And a seemingly innocent miscalculation turned ugly when hungry customers had to be turned away.

One outraged customer yelled back at the pre-recorded drive-thru message, “People have kids they tryin’ to feed with the special and you mean to tell me we can’t feed our kids?!”

The Democrat and Chronicle reported that cars filled the parking lot and spilled onto the street. “It was quite the promotion,” a shift manager at a local Popeye’s told the paper. “It was phenomenal. We had people trying to place multiple orders. The promotion allowed only one order per person. It got crazy at the end.” Hungry chicken fans then drove to other locations which also ran out of chicken.

Believe me when I tell you, it was pure bedlam.

The story ran rampant across the internet, spawning websites like OutOfChicken.com , Youtube spoof videos, memes, demotivational posters and animated GIFs.

So children, the next time your grandpappy sits you down and tells you about the awful conditions he had to endure during the Great Recession, you listen to him. And you listen good. You kids these days don’t know how easy you have it.

Tags: chain restaurant, drive-through, drive-thru, fast food restaurant, Food, Lake Avenue, Popeyes Chicken, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Rochester history, this date in Rochester history, urban agriculture, urban living

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014 at 7:56 am and is filed under Art + Culture, Rochester History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.