POPEYES SETS VIDEO RENTAL CONNECTION WITH KROGER

ROSEANNE HARPER

ATLANTA -- Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits is aiming to fast-forward sales in its units inside Kroger stores by hooking up with the video rental department.

The quick-service chicken restaurant chain, whose parent company is America's Favorite Chicken, based here, has 18 restaurants inside Kroger stores, 13 of them in the Atlanta market area.

The video connection is just the beginning of a series of experiments Popeyes will undertake to see how it can make the most of its in-Kroger locations, said Jane Albright, Popeyes' recently appointed supermarket venue specialist.

The link-up with the video department -- currently under way in several Kroger units in Atlanta -- differs from store to store.

"We'll be trying different things with each video department, and then evaluating them," Albright said.

"One we're trying is a frequency card, punched at the video counter. After the customer has rented a certain number of tapes, he can come on over and get a box of Popeyes chicken free and enjoy it with the movie," she said. In another store, a coupon offered by Popeyes with a chicken dinner gives a discount on a video rental.

Albright declined to pinpoint which Kroger Atlanta stores are involved in the test that began this month but indicated that Popeyes will soon be conducting a version of it in all the Kroger stores that have video departments. "They all represent opportunities for us," she said.