‘Sounds like Patti LaBelle.’ Watch Louisiana Popeyes worker sing to drive-thru customers

The “Patti LaBelle of Popeyes” Cynthia Carter has gone viral on Facebook for singing her customers’ orders back to them through the drive-thru window of the franchise where she works in Kenner, Louisiana, according to local media reports.

“Keep it poppin you hear?” she can be heard saying through the drive-thru speaker in one video that gained more than 340,000 views after a customer posted it on Facebook.

She then takes the customer’s order as the two sing to each other cheerfully back and forth through the speaker.

“Whomever this lady is at this Popeyes on Loyola (in Kenner). THANK YOU!” wrote Aundra Woodfin, who posted the video on March 8.

While 57-year-old Carter has been gaining attention in recent weeks, she has actually been singing to customers since 2005, after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans and the surrounding areas, according to NOLA.com. During the recovery period, a customer sang to Carter, who lost everything in the storm, through the drive-thru window, and Carter sang back, the outlet reported. The rest is history.

“She sounds like Patti LaBelle,” one customer told WGNO in 2017.

Popeyes did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

The viral Facebook video isn’t Carter’s first time in the national spotlight.

In 2014, she appeared in an episode of the reality TV show ”Undercover Boss,” according to NOLA.com.

Later that year, she was featured on ”The Meredith Vieira Show” on NBC and was awarded an SUV.

“You have been inspiring so many people,” Jon Harris, a correspondent on the show, told Carter as he presented her with a new Toyota RAV4. “Every day you’re singing and uplifting their spirits, and we wanted to do the same for you.”

“I’m gonna drive my new car, I’m gonna do that baby,” Carter sung as she drove away from the drive-thru.

But customers’ time to experience Carter’s singing for themselves may be limited.

Carter told NOLA.com in March that after 30 years of working at Popeyes, she may be planning to retire soon.

This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 11:10 AM with the headline "‘Sounds like Patti LaBelle.’ Watch Louisiana Popeyes worker sing to drive-thru customers."