I don’t know if Popeye’s corporate officers or owners are Black, but all the Popeye’s in S. FL, where I used to be a minister for a Biker Church, were staffed entirely by Black People. When the Ministers, Deacons, and other members of our church went on a bike run every Thursday night, we always ended up at Popeye’s, where we were given fast, polite, excellent service, good food, and genuine friendly conversation.
We Bikers were mostly male (I was the only female), white, southern, and redneck-looking.
It was our favorite place to go.
And the fried chicken was excellent!
It was started by Al Copeland (white). He ran into financial difficulty and sold it off...I don’t recall who the buyers were...I thought it was a company not just one person.