If you haven’t had Popeyes’ new chicken sandwich yet, and were hoping to find out if it stacks up to the hype, you’ll have to wait.

The fast food chain’s new menu item is so popular it has already sold out nationwide.

Nick Kindelsperger/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images

The company anticipated the sandwich would be popular, but on Tuesday had to issue a statement saying “extraordinary demand” had resulted in it running out of the supply it expected to last until the end of September.

“As a result, Popeyes restaurants across the country are expected to sell out of the Chicken Sandwich by the end of this week,” the company said in a statement, but in many locations they are already out.

In an attempt to review the sandwich, I spent a not insignificant portion of the past two days driving around Charlotte, North Carolina, where I live, trying to get my hands on the elusive fried chicken delicacy—served in both a spicy and non-spicy version—only to be turned away at location after location.

Signs were posted on doors, menu boards, and even a parking cone in one instance, apologizing for the situation and thanking patrons for their support.

Jeff Taylor

Jeff Taylor

To give a sense of the atmosphere, I was nearly run into at least twice and someone drove the wrong way through the drive-thru, ignoring two “Do Not Enter” signs. This is not a singular experience, with the manager of a location in Georgia saying earlier this week they were considering no longer selling the sandwich due to the long lines and accidents it was causing.

The unexpected uber hit has Chick-fil-A appearing nervous for the first time, unraveling on social media and on its signage. Glib and witty is not its brand, making the fast food chicken giant look defensive instead of confident, as we’re used to seeing.

The more it protests that its chicken sandwich is the original and superior offering, the more rattled the company seems.

While taste played arguably the biggest role in the sandwich’s popularity, with Popeyes understanding the benefits of both crunchiness and spices, politics were also at play. It is 2019, after all.

Chick-fil-A has been arrogant in its defense of its anti-LGBTQ donations, characterizing it as “a higher calling.” Popeyes has a more apolitical stance, with HuffPost noting it does not have a political action committee, but that the company’s chairman donates to Democratic politicians in Florida, Showbiz Cheat Sheet has reported.

The increasing popularity of chicken nationwide, as people look for red meat alternatives, the flavor and texture profile (or so I’m told, still waiting to see firsthand), and the grassroots social media sharing and meme creation that has solidified this into a pop culture moment, means the sandwich would likely have been a major hit either way.

But without the politicization of all things in our modern era, growing acceptance of LGBTQ people, and Chick-fil-A’s archaic stance, it is likely you’d still be able to buy one this week and next.

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The company has said the sandwich is expected to return soon, with an exact date still unavailable, but this time “for good.” Whether the phenomenon can cut into Chick-fil-A’s massive profits in a significant way over the long-run remains to be seen, but what is without dispute is that its other competitors have taken notice.

Wendy’s has reminded everyone it also offers a chicken sandwich, and the board of the McDonald’s independent franchise association, the National Owners Association (NOA), is pushing the company to come up with a new chicken sandwich to get in the game as well.

Chick-fil-A has up until now been feeling itself with apparently little concern for how it is viewed by those who aren’t similarly right-of-center on the “queer question,” but it will choose to remain in that stance at its own risk. Time to see if that “higher calling” will keep calling as loudly if the company begins to see lower earnings.