Restaurant Brands International Inc's quarterly profit has beaten expectations as product launches including the plant-based Impossible Whopper drew diners to Burger King, and its investments abroad paid off.
Fast-food chains in North America are exploring ways to add faux meat offerings to their menu, as more customers switch to vegan diets. Burger King was one of the first publicly listed burger chains to join the vegan bandwagon.
The burger maker, known for its Whopper burgers, and plant-based burger maker Impossible Foods started selling their vegan burger, Impossible Whopper, in 59 stores in and around St. Louis, Missouri, in April. Nationwide sales are expected this month.
Outside Of The US
Restaurant Brands, which also owns coffee-and-donut chain Tim Hortons and fast-food restaurant chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, said that Burger King was seeing strength outside of the United States, particularly in China, India, Brazil and Spain.
Tim Hortons also serves breakfast sandwiches made with faux-meat burger maker Beyond Meat Inc's Beyond Sausage in Canada.
Tim Hortons is set to enter Thailand, its third market in Asia, while Restaurant Brands is also expanding its fast-food restaurant chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen into Spain.
Restaurant Brands, which has over 26,000 restaurants globally, said in May that it plans to expand all three of its brands to more than 40,000 restaurants globally in the next eight to ten years, making it one of the largest restaurant companies in the world.
Sales, Net Income And Earnings Per Share
Comparable sales at Burger King, the largest business of Restaurant Brands, rose 3.6% in the second quarter. Sales at Tim Hortons and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen increased 0.5% and 3%.
The company's net income fell 18% to $257 million in the quarter that ended on June 30.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 71 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 65 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
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