Third person in Blanchardstown queue to win ‘chicken for life’ admits he’s never tried the famed US offering Customers queued for 26 hours for the chance to win a lifetime supply of free chicken from Popeyes in Blanchardstown. Video: Enda O'Dowd Sat Jun 06 2026 - 14:01 • 5 MIN READ“Madness, just madness,” mutters the woman walking into the Blanchardstown Centre on a wet and dreary Saturday morning with a crumpled up Dunnes Stores bag by her side.As she speaks, she eyes the queue of mostly young people lining up for chicken like they were Soviet-era Russians waiting for Ronald McDonald to rock up to Red Square. She frowns hard. It’s hard to disagree with her snap judgment. This is undoubtedly the madness of the crowd in full effect. Another woman walks past and shakes her head. She scoffs when The Irish Times asks if she is here to join the queue for Popeyes, the latest US fast food outlet to arrive in the Republic.“Do I look like the demographic?”No.Of the 200 or so people lining up in and out of the rain almost two hours before the “famous Louisiana chicken” shop opens the doors of its first restaurant here, 99 per cent are teenagers and most of them are boys.The very top of the line tells a different story mind you.Karl Harmon arrived 26 hours before the opening of Popeyes in Blanchardsown and was awarded with a lifetime supply of free chicken burgers. Photo: Enda O'Dowd Karl Harmon is in his 20s and has been waiting for the chicken shop to open since 8am. That is 8am on Friday. [ First Look: Ireland’s new floating sauna in Dublin’s Dún Laoghaire harbourOpens in new window ]And – at the risk of repeating ourselves – it’s worth bearing in mind that it is now Saturday.What possesses an otherwise sane looking man to stand in line for 26 hours for a chicken sandwich in a country that is – if nothing else – well served by chicken sandwiches?Karl says he just loves Popeyes. He first had it with his girlfriend in Liverpool a couple of years back and then for a second time with his dad in Belfast. When he heard that the State’s first Popeyes was opening 10 minutes from his Mulhuddart home, he could scarcely believe his good fortune. And when he heard the place was promising chicken for life for the first three people in the queue*, he immediately made a chicken shop date. (*Terms and conditions apply. And in case you are wondering what those terms and conditions are, Karl will getting one chicken sandwich a month between now and June 2076.)People queued for over 24 hours for the opening of Popeyes in Blanchardstown. Picture: Enda O'Dowd Second in line – and also qualifying for chicken for life – is Brian Kaiser from the US state of Maryland. “I grew up with Popeyes,” he says. “This is my favourite fast food in the States. I’ve been dying for it to come to Ireland for years. “I had to try and get to be in the first three.” He was delighted to see Karl was the only person in front of him. “We’ve been hanging out since then.”Having never had a Popeyes but having been drawn to the brand because it also spells Pope Yes, The Irish Times asks Kaiser what is so special about this chicken – other than the fact that Beyoncé had it served at her wedding to Jay Z. “It is a taste of home and it’s the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had,” he says. “Oh and the biscuits, that all-American classic buttermilk biscuit, I love them,” he virtually drools.It’s hard not to wonder if a bit of hunger-related delirium hasn’t set in. Conor Pope tastes a Popeyes chicken burger which some customers in Blanchardstown queued overnight for. Picture: Enda O'Dowd The third person in the queue has perhaps the oddest story of the lot. Not only has Ben Lawlor, from Lucan, never had Popeyes, he had no intention of even being in the queue at lunchtime on Friday. [ How the American fast-food franchise took Ireland by stormOpens in new window ]“I came up with my two mates to play pool in the Leisureplex and one of them seen this on Instagram so we said we’d have a look. We said if there were more than three people in the queue we’d go on and play pool but there was only two so with that one spot left, I said I’d stay,” he says, like it makes sense.He reckons it was worth the wait although admits he is speaking without having ever had a Popeyes chicken sandwich. We can but hope he likes it. It is hard not to pity poor Chibi Nwana. He arrived five minutes after Ben and is in fourth place so misses out on the free chicken for life. He says he decided to stay just in case one of the top three didn’t have the legs or heart to wait. There is also the promise of free stuff. “I was thinking, if he gives up, then I’ll take his place,” he says gesturing toward Ben. “I will still get some merch and a free chicken sandwich,” he says. “I’m very hungry.” When asked how he might respond to a suggestion that he is “bonkers” he takes it on the chin. “I knew I was bonkers before I came here.”The Mayor of Fingal, Tom O’Leary, is also here although not bonkers enough to be queuing for chicken draped in his mayoral chain. “Any retail business that brings 80 new jobs will help out Ireland’s future,” he says. The head of Popeyes in Ireland and Britain, Tom Crowley, is wandering around looking like the cat who got the chicken fillet role. “We have been looking forward to this for a long time,” he says. “And what an amazing turnout.”When asked what in the name of all that is good and true makes otherwise sensible people stand in line for hours for something as ordinary chicken he suggest that while the food is special the queuing is not. “Every time we open the door, we get the same thing.”He says some other things about chicken – flavours and crunch and the like but we have to move on because we see Brian Kaiser’s wife, Janae, waiting nearby and we want to find out what she makes of her husband standing in a queue for 24 hours for the promise of a lifetime of chicken when she won’t – although she is actually from the state where Popeyes was born in the early 1970s. “I think it’s pretty crazy,” she says with fondness in her voice. “All my family’s from Louisiana and it is very important down there so the pride of having this in the family is just fine,” she says. And then, just before the doors open, a sandwich is sneaked out and pressed into the hands of The Irish Times – for research purposes only.We move far away from the queue, lest we are torn apart by the chicken-hungry pack, and bite into the sandwich that spawned this frenzy. And the verdict? It’s grand.IN THIS SECTION