The brawl broke out at the branch near 76th and Good Hope Road in Milwaukee on Wednesday evening, while the restaurant was open to the public, Fox 6 reported.

Customer Richard Fourté filmed the incident. Fourté said there was a queue at the drive-thru, so he went inside the restaurant to order his food. Inside, he noticed a large group of employees.

Fourté told Fox 6: “I said to myself, I said, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of people working here’.”

“I heard one of them yell, ‘It’s a fight. They ran to the back by the grills, OK. Now, there was a fight back there. I didn’t get that one on tape,” he said.

As tensions escalated, Fourté took out his phone and started filming.

Footage of the altercation shows fists flying as workers push one another around the restaurant.

Fourté recalled: “It was just out of control. That was the first thing that went through my head, like this is out of control.”

Eventually, the employees stopped fighting. But Fourté was put off his food.

“Honestly, I wasn’t even going to get the chicken sandwich,” he said.

It is unclear what caused the incident. Management responded by firing seven individuals.

John Broderson, who owns the Popeye’s franchise, said in a statement: “This was an unfortunate, isolated incident which we take very seriously. The dining room was closed immediately after the altercation at 9:30 p.m. As a result of this, seven employees were terminated from the company, including the manager on duty.”

A spokesperson from Popeyes told Newsweek: “This behavior is clearly against our expectations and standards. The franchisee terminated the employees involved in the dispute and is reviewing additional actions to prevent this from happening again.”

Earlier this month, a man was fatally stabbed outside a different branch of Popeyes in Maryland,

Kevin Tyrell Davis, 28, died following the incident at Popeyes on November 4, the Associated Press reported.

Prince George’s County Police Department arrested 30-year-old Ricoh McClain in connection with the killing on Wednesday.

Police Chief Hank Stawinski told the news agency Davis and McClain were in the store queuing for a chicken sandwich which was re-released the day before.

Stawinski said Davis had “methodically” skipped forwards in the line for around 15 minutes. McClain then approached him.

Around 15 seconds after the pair started arguing, McClain stabbed Davis, according to Stawinski.

On Friday, a judge in Prince George’s County detained McClain without a bond, according to the Associated Press.

McClain was charged with first and second degree murder.

Attorney Thomas Mooney told The Washington Post the charge was inappropriate and McClain has “very viable” defenses, the Associated Press reported.

This article has been updated with comment from Popeyes.