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Burger King might get a Quick boost in France

Most of the Quick burger chain in France will be converted to Burger Kings after Restaurant Brands International said they did not wish to develop a third brand.

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Grace Brown/AP/File
Customers eat their meals at the first Burger King outlet which recently opened in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, Oct. 26, 2015. Burger Kind is expanding in France as well.

Saying it is not interested in developing a third brand under its corporate umbrella, Restaurant Brands International (RBI) says it expects that the majority of the Quick burger chain its French franchisee has proposed to acquire will be converted to the Burger King brand.

Burger King France, master franchise joint venture partner for France, is pursuing an acquisition of the 509-store Quick burger concept from Qualium Investissement for an undisclosed amount. RBI CEO Daniel Schwartz told analysts that at least the 400 Quick stores in France (it also operates in Belgium) would become Burger Kings, increasing its presence in a country where it now has about 30 units. But those stores are doing well: Schwartz says some of them have average annual sales as high as €5 million ($5.52 million). Burger King returned to France in 2012 after leaving the market in 1997. McDonald’s has about 1,200 locations in France.

The Quick chain is known for high-quality, innovative burgers

RBI reported strong results for both its Burger King and Tim Hortons brands for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2015. Burger King same-store sales rose 6.2% systemwide and 5.2% in North America. Tim Hortons’ comp sales were up 5.3%.

Tim Hortons sales benefitted from the introductions of Grilled Breakfast Wraps and Grilled Lunch Wraps plus continued sales growth for its Dark Roast coffee. Key Burger King introductions in the quarter included Fiery Chicken Fries and Extra Long Jalapeňo Cheeseburger. Both are examples of what Schwartz called the “impactful but operationally simple” limited-time menu promotions on which the chain has relied for the past few years. GrubGrade reports the chain is testing Buffalo Chicken Fries. The current Burger King, LTO, the Extra Long Sriracha Cheeseburger simply replaces jalapeňos with a squirt of sriracha, indicating that the chain will continue to mix and match ingredients to create the illusion of newness until consumers tire of it.

This article first appeared at BurgerBusiness.

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