![The first of 13 new Popeyes opened this week in Brooklyn Park, as people lined up both inside and outside in cars to place their orders. Popeyes has been a minor fast food player in the Twin Cities with just one lone Minneapolis store. But the company bought 13 KFCs from a bankrupt KFC franchisee last fall, giving it a much bigger presence versus its arch-chicken rival. Popeyes is in the process of converting the KFC's, with more to come in stages through spring and summer.] Bruce Bisping/Star T](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/INDURLMJWCWTTIEORPGKH7JW7Q.jpg?&w=1080)
The first of 13 new Popeyes restaurants — part of a major Twin Cities offensive by the national chicken chain — opened this week in Brooklyn Park.
Another Popeyes is slated to open in early April in Coon Rapids, followed within roughly a month by openings in Maplewood and Crystal, according to company spokespeople.
Popeyes won the 13 former KFC restaurants in a contentious bankruptcy proceeding last fall, effectively wresting them from its fried chicken archrival.
Popeyes is converting the former KFCs in phases and plans to have the job completed by late July — "that's our target, " said Alicia Thompson, spokeswoman for suburban Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises, Popeyes' corporate parent.
Popeyes, the nation's second-largest fried chicken chain, has had only a tiny presence in the Twin Cities, one store on Lake Street in south Minneapolis.
But AFC capitalized on the bankruptcy of KFC franchisee Wagstaff Management when it submitted a bid last year for 28 of Wagstaff's bankrupt restaurants, equally split between the Twin Cities and northern California.
KFC Enterprises, a unit of Louisville-based restaurant giant Yum Brands, vigorously fought the deal in bankruptcy court, backing a late-inning bid by a KFC franchisee for the same properties.
But Wagstaff's main creditor, GE Capital, supported AFC's offer, and it was approved in November by a bankruptcy judge in Minneapolis.
