BY KERRY PIPES
POWERHOUSE WOMEN
IN FRANCHISING
BUILDING MOMENTUM
Cheryl Bachelder, Popeyes CEO, wants to build better leaders
T
he single word Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of Popeyes Louisiana
Kitchen, uses to describe the resurgence of the brand is “momentum.” She
says Popeyes is now in its seventh year of
positive growth, and its turnaround tale is
one she is extremely proud to be part of.
“My background in packaged goods
taught me the value of positioning a brand,
listening to customers, and keeping things
fresh in order to be successful,” she says. “I
don’t believe in a brand lifecycle.”
Following a career with packaged goods
giants including Procter & Gamble, The
Gillette Company, and Nabisco, Bachelder
took a leadership position with Domino’s
Pizza in the mid-1990s. It was her first foray
into the restaurant business and franchising, and it was a case of baptism by fire.
“My first week on the job there was a
class action lawsuit filed against us by the
franchisees,” she recalls. There were some
distribution problems and a general lack
of communication, and it all boiled over.
Bachelder stepped in and began peeling
back the layers. “I found that we had an
unaligned relationship with our franchisees.
When you are aligned with your franchisees, you can rule the world.”
So she set about asking questions, lisSYSTEM-WIDE REVENUE: N/A. U.S.
same-store sales have outpaced the chickenQSR segment for 26 consecutive quarters,
and overall QSR for 12 consecutive quarters
according to independent data. In 2014, global
same-store sales rose 6.2%
NO. OF UNITS: 2,379 total (2,314
franchised, 65 corporate)
INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS: 509
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? Public
GROWTH PLANS (1, 3, 5 YEARS): We
believe we have the potential to double our
domestic footprint.
YEAR FOUNDED: 1972
BEGAN FRANCHISING: 1976
YEARS WITH COMPANY: 7
YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 18
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