Popeyes Lower Hutt calls in traffic management as queues block road

By Ashleigh McCaull of RNZ

Lower Hutt’s Popeyes Chicken is proving so popular it has introduced traffic management to stop long queues spilling on to the road.

But not everyone is on board. So far the Hutt City Council has received two complaints from the public and one official has raised concerns about public safety caused by traffic disruptions.

The restaurant is so popular that when it opened its Lower Hutt outlet earlier this month, customers were queuing from as early as 3am, and the queues did not stop there.

Customers explained why they were in the queue.

“We’re big fried chicken fans, so we’re happy we found a new spot to go,” Andrew Miller said.

“We tried once but it was too busy so we’re trying a second time,” Aspen Fell said.

Popeyes has had to bring in traffic management to prevent long queues from spilling onto the road. Photo / RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

“Maybe KFC level, maybe a little better because they’re new, you know, they like to put out the best,” River Filo said.

But River’s friend Zachary Naufahu did not share the same enthusiasm.

“Look at this line. Nothing’s worth this line. I didn’t event want to come but she goes ‘yes let’s go’ and then I got stuck in the line,” Naufahu said.

Popeyes was no stranger to big queues.

When it opened its first New Zealand outlet in Auckland’s Takanini last year, cars clogged Great South Rd all the way to the motorway off-ramp.

The restaurant had plans to expand to Palmerston North, where city councillor Mark Arnott feared it would cause traffic delays.

He took to social media, and said the planned store would be on one of the city’s busiest intersections.

“The corner of Tremaine Ave and Rangitikei St is one of our busiest intersections with an average daily traffic count of 18,699 vehicles and 10.41% of those are heavy vehicles.

“These two new businesses will have drive-thru entry on Tremaine Ave with exit on Matipo St, I can clearly see this causing congestion,” Arnott said.

Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith, however, was not worried.

The new store would not be any different from other fast-food outlets across the country, he said.

“That’s the model they work on. If you look around New Zealand, around the world, you’ll see that fast food organisations go close to a major highway or intersection where they get the traffic volumes because that’s the model,” Smith said.

The restaurant would be another contributor to the city’s local economy, he said.

“It’s a balance, you’ve got to look at the economy as well, the jobs created, it’s a multi-million dollar build. It’ll create some long-standing jobs, people pass through Palmerston North and there’s another option for them,” Smith said.

Back in Lower Hutt, customers shared their thoughts on whether the food was worth the wait.

“It’s really good, the chicken’s nice and crunchy, it’s got a lot of sauce, lots of flavour, quite tasty actually,” Jodie said.

“It is better than KFC, it’s not as oily as KFC is. It’s quite crunchy,” Stevie Bailey said.

“It didn’t have a lot of flavour, but I did get the mild and the chips were quite mild as well,” Tineka Cooke said.

RNZ approached Popeyes owner Tahua Group multiple times for comment but it did not reply.

- RNZ

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