While its Burger King and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen divisions encountered traffic and sales headwinds in the second quarter, Restaurant Brands International Inc.’s Tim Hortons brand enjoyed a boost from daypart-expanding products, the company said Tuesday.
Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International, which released earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, said the quick-service restaurant company wanted to continue to provide value.
“Our goal is for all of our businesses to provide compelling value to guests the right way, with quality products, exceptional service and unmatched convenience,” Josh Kobza, RBI’s CEO, said in an earnings call with analysts. “If we can do this, we'll outperform the competition and deliver sustainable growth for our franchisees and our shareholders.”
Kobza cited flatbread pizzas in helping its Tim Hortons division chalk up traffic and sales increases in Canada.
“Flatbread pizzas are giving Canadians another reason to visit their local Tims, boosting restaurant traffic during historically slower dayparts and driving higher average check,” Kobza said. “We've seen nearly 70% of flatbread pizza sales occur after 2 p.m. or on weekends, and the platform is generating 2.5-times higher average checks than non-flatbread tickets.”
Burger King in the United States and Canada suffered same-store sales declines of 0.4% and the number of net restaurants declined by 1.6%, resulting in a 1.5% decline in systemwide sales.
“Sales were softer than we'd like this quarter and were impacted by a tough consumer environment over the summer,” Kobza said. “Our calendar initiatives, including Fiery, were unable to cut through all the value messages in the market, and were less impactful than our Royal Crispy Chicken Wraps launch in the prior year. As a result, we saw our gap versus the industry take a slight step back beginning in August, after several quarters where we'd been outperforming burger QSR peers.
“As we've moved into October, performance has shifted, particularly with the great success of our Addams Family Meal, including Wednesday's Whopper, and helped us return to same-store sales outperformance relative to the burger QSR industry again,” Kobza said
Kobza added that Burger King was on track to accelerate its pace of remodels with a goal of modernizing 85% to 90% of stores by the end of 2028. The company plans to use some of its "Reclaim the Flame” investment in that remodeling.
“Accelerating the modern image of our system is one of the primary motives behind our acquisition of Carrols, aside from creating new franchise opportunities for existing and new operators when we move to refranchise those restaurants over the next few years,” Kobza said.
RBI completed the acquisition of Carrols Restaurant Group Inc., its largest Burger King franchisee, on May 16, and Popeyes China on June 28. Following those acquisitions, RBI established a new operating and reportable segment, Restaurant Holdings, which is the company’s sixth reporting segment.
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Restaurant Brands International’s net income was $357 million, or 79 cents a share, compared to $364 million, or 79 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenues were $2.291 billion, compared to $1.837 billion in the same period a year ago.
Same-store sales were up 0.3% systemwide with an increase of 2.3% for Tim Hortons, down 0.7% at Burger King, down 4% at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen; down 4.8% at Firehouse Subs, and up 1.8% at its international restaurants.
Restaurant Brands International has more than 30,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries and territories.
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