Seven workers at a Popeyes restaurant in Milwaukee are without jobs after they broke out into a large fight, beating each other in both the grill and dining areas.
The incident occurred last week, around 9:30 p.m. at the popular chicken chain. One customer, Richard Fourte, told Fox 6 that the fighting began after someone yelled, “It’s a fight.” He said all of the employees ran into the back of the restaurant near the grills and began the bout.
“OK. Now, there was a fight back there. I didn’t get that one on tape,” he recalled, noting that after that he took out his cell phone and began to record the altercation.
Soon after, the brawl spilled out into the dining area. The employees, both male and female, were seen throwing punches and grappling on the floor as other workers tried to hold some of them back.
“Honestly, I wasn’t even going to get the chicken sandwich,” Fourte mused.
It is unclear what the fight was about or why so many of the employees were involved. When police arrived at the scene, it was determined that no weapons were used, and none of those involved were arrested.
The owner of the Popeyes franchise, John Brodersen, released a statement after the incident explaining that seven employees were fired.
“This was an unfortunate, isolated incident which we take very seriously. The dining room was closed immediately after the altercation at 9:30 p.m. As a result of this, seven employees were terminated from the company, including the manager on duty,” Brodersen said.
The brawl comes after a man was fatally stabbed this month at a Maryland store after a fight over the chain’s popular chicken sandwiches. In September, a gun was pulled at a Popeyes in Texas after a group of people was told the store was out of the sandwiches.
[Previous coverage: ‘I can’t think straight’: Man sues Popeyes for running out of chicken sandwiches]
