Restaurant Brands International, owner of brands including Burger King and Tim Hortons, enjoyed “solid” results in the UK despite weak consumer sentiment.
The owner of Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons sees “tremendous white space” for its brands to grow, after defying weak consumer sentiment to produce a “stand-out” performance in its international segment.
Restaurant Brands International (RBI) grew its comparable sales by 4.7% in the final quarter of the year, and by 3.3% across 2024 as a whole in its international segment, which includes all its brands outside the US and Canada. On a system-wide sales basis, the international segment grew by double digits, both in the quarter and across the year.
The international brands outpaced the growth of the total business, which increased sales by 2.5% in the fourth quarter and 2.3% in 2024 as a whole.
Maintaining a consistent strategy will be the hallmark of RBI’s approach as it looks to continue to strengthen in its international segment, CEO Joshua Kobza told investors today (12 February).
“A lot of the things that we saw working in Q4 are the things that we’ll keep working on in the 2025,” he said. “We’re focused on making sure that we’ve had compelling value offerings in all of those markets and combining that with some really compelling innovations.”
Offering value is a consistent theme for brands in the fast-food segment. In the UK, Burger King runs a £3 ‘Whopper Wednesday’ deal through its loyalty app. One of the business’s biggest markets outside the US and Canada, the UK delivered “solid” growth over the year period.
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This contrasts with the performance of rival McDonald’s, which earlier this week reported its UK business had underperformed in 2024. CEO Chris Kempczinski highlighted a weak consumer environment in the UK and the need to drive value perceptions, adding that sales had fallen for the Big Mac brand in the fourth quarter.
By contrast, RBI does not appear to have suffered as a result of a weaker consumer confidence in the UK. The business also highlighted the success of its chicken brand Popeyes, which only began trading in the UK three years ago.
According to YouGov BrandIndex, McDonald’s has considerably stronger value perception (17.5) among UK consumers versus Burger King (1.4). However, McDonald’s value perceptions have dropped considerably over the past 12 months, having averaged at 19.8 over the year ending 11 February 2025. Burger King, on the other hand, saw its value perceptions grow, from 0.6 in the 12 months ending February 2024, to 1.4 over the past 12 months.
Kobza sees plenty of potential “headroom” for growth in international markets going forward. He also laid out how the Burger King brand would progress in its native market.
Speaking about the US specifically, Kobza emphasised the need for Burger King to present itself in a “modern” way, with up to date restaurants. At the same time, the chain is aiming to dial up the things consumers most associate with the brand.
“For 2025 we’ll continue leaning into our key differentiators of flame grilling, the Whopper and ‘Have It Your Way’,” he said.
