Lori Uezu isn’t one to seek the limelight, but you’ve likely seen her work. Since joining the family business in 2014, she’s leaned in alongside her father, mother and brother to open two new locations of the multinational fast-food chain Popeyes as vice president of the Hawai‘i franchise.
She’s well suited for the job, having grown up helping her parents in the office after school and witnessing them put countless hours into the business started by her father, Kal Uezu, a former chicken farmer and restaurateur who jumped at the chance to bring the Popeyes franchise to Hawai‘i after sampling its famous Southern-style fried chicken at the flagship location in New Orleans.
Uezu always saw herself going into the family business, but not without spreading her wings first on the mainland, where she spent 14 years immersed in the tech industry in Silicon Valley. Around 2014, Popeyes Hawaii was positioning itself for further growth in Hawai‘i, and Uezu saw it as the perfect opportunity to come back and be a part of the expansion effort.
Though Mom and Dad are “Sue” and “Kal” during business hours, Uezu says her family ties have opened doors for making strides at the company from the get-go. “There are challenges in any job, but [working with family] is exciting because there’s a lot of opportunity,” Uezu says. “But the best thing about it is being able to work with somebody you trust. I can’t think of anything else I would rather do.”
“It’s never a dull moment.”
To cater to the local palate, the company offers limited runs of unique-to-Hawai‘i menu items, such as Cajun-spiced liver and gizzards and Japanese-style curry made with the company’s signature marinated chicken. And that isn’t all that sets the Hawai‘i franchise apart—Popeyes Hawaii was one of the first in the nationwide chain to offer online orders through a mobile app, an initiative the company launched more than four years ago and that Popeyes is now working to implement nationwide.
Coming from Silicon Valley at the end of the dot-com era, Uezu knew one thing for certain. “Everything needs to be at your fingertips,” Uezu says. “You have to be constantly evolving and willing and open-minded to change. You can’t stay stagnant or everybody will pass in front of you.”
In addition to overseeing the company’s physical expansion, Uezu has been a driving force in integrating new tech at Popeyes, implementing new POS, phone and camera systems, rolling out electronic versions of the company’s paper processes and working with a marketing agency to bolster the company’s local branding and social media presence.
“I wear a lot of hats,” Uezu says. “When we were in the development phase, I was in the stores often,” Uezu says. “I wanted to understand what [was or wasn’t working], working really closely with the teams, watching the process and seeing their challenges to make sure that as we develop, we [are always making] improvements. It’s never a dull moment.”
The company is now celebrating its 40th anniversary in Hawai‘i, a huge milestone for the franchise and the Uezu family. “We’re a quick-service, fast-food restaurant, but in reality, it takes so much care to create this product,” Uezu says. “My dad is so passionate about quality. He’s been working his entire life to try to get [Hawai‘i] back to fresh chicken.”
It’s an achievement that’s come full circle for “Chicken Kal,” as he’s known humorously by friends. Prior to opening Popeyes Hawaii, he raised and processed local chickens for his father’s company, 50th State Poultry—an anomaly in our island state, where frozen mainland chicken is the norm. Marinated for 12 hours and hand-battered-and-breaded to perfection, Popeyes Hawaii’s signature fried chicken is made with fresh, not frozen, poultry, a detail that makes all the difference.
And though Popeyes’ Bonafide bone-in chicken is great for a quick lunch—Uezu has it between five and six days a week—that’s not where Popeyes really shines. “A lot of families love it,” Uezu says. “Popeyes is great to be shared.”
