That Long Beach Restaurant Reselling Popeyes Fried Chicken Seems to Be Closing

Beleaguered Long Beach restaurant Sweet Dixie Kitchen is undergoing some changes, bringing and end to one of the weirdest restaurant owner sagas to hit Southern California in a while. The restaurant briefly rose to national fame for all the wrong reasons back in 2017, after Foodbeast, local blog LongBeachize, and others discovered that Sweet Dixie’s owner had been caught bringing in Popeyes Chicken and reheating it to serve to customers at her own place.

At the time, employees somewhat bashfully confirmed that they did indeed serve Popeyes fried chicken with their chicken and waffles plate, for which they charged a cool $13. The restaurant did not initially disclose the fact that they were reheating someone else’s chicken and passing it off as their own. Instead, they eventually leaned into the fully prepared and cooked standalone food as merely an “ingredient,” adding that they don’t disclose all of the purveyors of each ingredient on their menus.

After Yelpers deluged the place with one-star reviews for their antics, leading to Eater coining the term #PopeyesGate, owner Kimberly Sanchez decided to really double down on the whole thing. She started selling merchandise using the above hashtag, occasionally calling herself the so-called BiscuitWitch on social media as well. While Sweet Dixie Kitchen undoubtedly received a flurry of new attention following the story, it seems that now Sanchez has moved on.

The Long Beach Post is reporting, via a social media post from Sanchez’s son, that the restaurant is closing, though there is some nuance needed there. The restaurant’s Instagram indicates they are still up and running, albeit with new (unnamed) ownership. The phone number for the restaurant is disconnected, however, and at least one source believes that the incoming ownership plans to change the name of the place, turning it into something new in the coming days.

Eater reached out to Sweet Dixie Kitchen for more information, but so far has not heard back. It’s also unclear whether it’ll continue serving Popeyes fried chicken.

Sweet Dixie Kitchen. 401 E. 3rd St., Long Beach.

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