Burger King’s sales surge while Popeyes struggles

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More marque presidents should instrumentality large bites of burgers connected camera, apparently.

Burger King’s U.S. same-store income soared 5.8% successful the archetypal quarter, genitor institution Restaurant Brands International said connected Wednesday, arsenic the brand’s selling seemingly got customers to travel successful and sensation the chain’s reconfigured Whopper.

As a company, RBI’s same-store income roseate 3.2%, which bushed Wall Street expectations. But wrong the edifice concatenation operator’s show was immoderate wide differences.

Notably, the chickenhearted concatenation Popeyes continued its slump. Same-store income astatine the concatenation declined 6.5%, the chain’s worst show successful astatine slightest 19 years. 

Same-store income astatine Tim Hortons grew 1.6%, including 1.5% successful Canada, wherever the coffee-and-doughnut concatenation is dominant. At Firehouse Subs, same-store income successful the U.S. roseate 0.3%.

Outside of the U.S. and Canada, same-store income astatine RBI’s 4 brands roseate 5.7%, including 5.4% astatine Burger King. RBI is simply a large developer of restaurants internationally, and its occurrence determination is important for the company’s wide performance. 

Systemwide income astatine the company’s 4 brands accrued 6.2% successful the archetypal quarter, including 11.1% maturation extracurricular the U.S. and Canada. Revenues grew 7.3% to $2.3 billion. Net income doubled to $445 million, oregon 97 cents per share, from $223 million, oregon 49 cents.

RBI said that it has started buying backmost shares again and expects to repurchase $500 cardinal worthy this year. 

For Burger King, the 5.8% affirms the brand’s selling surge earlier this year. The institution ended 2025 connected a beardown enactment with its Spongebob Movie Meal and kicked disconnected a year-long paper betterment effort with an upgrade of the Whopper. 

Tom Curtis, the brand’s president, took telephone calls from customers implicit 2 weeks and past went viral for taking a large wound of a Whopper successful a video—after a smaller wound by Chris Kempczinski, the CEO of rival McDonald’s, was wide panned. 

Burger King past kicked disconnected a caller advertisement run highlighting its upgraded Whopper and Curtis’s in-home listening tour. 

“As for Burger King, our results bespeak respective years of hard enactment by our franchisees and teams to elevate the impermanent experience, driving stronger engagement and wide outperformance,” Josh Kobza, CEO of RBI, said successful a statement. 

Burger King's same-store income were its champion successful astir 3 years and came during a mostly pugnacious play for fast-food chains successful wide arsenic lower-income consumers chopped backmost connected eating and displacement toward worth offers.