On this photo illustration, a Burger King Whopper hamburger is displayed on April 05, 2022 in San Anselmo, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Seven months after Burger King unveiled a method to revive its U.S. business, the chain is selling more Whoppers than ever before.
Burger King U.S. President Tom Curtis told CNBC that preliminary improvements to restaurant operations and latest marketing campaigns are already boosting sales and customer satisfaction, even though it’s still early innings.
Parent company Restaurant Brands International is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings and sales results for its divisions, including Burger King U.S., before the bell on May 2. Last quarter, Burger King’s U.S. same-store sales rose 5% on the back of implementing early steps within the turnaround plan.
The $400 million plan to rejuvenate Burger King’s domestic sales was developed in partnership with franchisees and focuses on revamping its restaurants and investing in promoting.
“What’s happened within the last six months is that sense of ‘We’re on this together’ that we’ve got with our franchisees. I believe it’s unique within the business, and I believe that differs from what you see from a number of the competition as well,” Curtis said.
Burger rival McDonald’s has had much-publicized spats with its operators over time. Recently, tension has been boiling over changes to its franchise policies.
Before Burger King announced its official turnaround strategy, the corporate spent roughly a yr simplifying operations with a goal to enhance efficiency and order accuracy, Curtis said. For instance, Burger King reformulated and renamed its chicken sandwich. The now-retired Ch’King sandwich involved 21 steps to arrange the ultimate menu item. The Royal Crispy Chicken sandwich takes just five.
After announcing its “Reclaim the Flame” strategy at a franchisee convention in September, Burger King turned its attention to an in-store training program for all of its restaurants that instructed staff to greet customers, make Whoppers properly and provides out Burger King’s iconic crowns. Curtis said it was “an important thing that we did coming out of the convention.”
Burger King also held roundtables for general managers in 45 cities. Those roundtables included training general managers on how you can execute a five-week-long deep clean of their restaurants.
“I believe those things are foundationally essential, they usually resulted in a 20% uplift in guest satisfaction,” Curtis said.
Moreover, Burger King launched its “You Rule” marketing campaign in the autumn. The chain’s mascot, the Burger King, is nowhere to be seen within the ads. As a substitute, customers are royalty.
And despite Curtis’ own initial misgivings in regards to the “Whopper Whopper” jingle utilized in the campaign (he was underwhelmed by the lyrics and asked the marketing team to rethink it), the song went viral and spawned memes across Twitter and TikTok. The corporate officially released the song in response to the recognition, and it has nearly 3.3 million streams on Spotify as of Friday.
“We’re selling more Whoppers than we ever have. It’s had a extremely positive impact that we didn’t pay for or foresee on the business … it’s really exceeded my expectations,” Curtis said, adding that he’s excited for Restaurant Brands to release its earnings.
For the reason that company announced its “Reclaim the Flame” strategy, former Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle has joined Restaurant Brands as its executive chair. Doyle oversaw the pizza chain’s transformation right into a digital powerhouse within the restaurant industry. Curtis, who began as a Domino’s franchisee, worked alongside Doyle during his long profession at Domino’s as an operations executive before joining Burger King in 2021.
One in every of Doyle’s priorities for Burger King has been improving franchisee profitability. Two Burger King franchisees have filed for bankruptcy to this point in 2023. The primary franchisee to file for bankruptcy, Toms King Holdings, sold most of its locations at auction for $33 million earlier in April.
“I don’t desire to say that it’s welcome, because it isn’t, but I do think that if managed accurately, the end result will be higher than where you were before,” Curtis said.
While early signs point to the turnaround taking hold, Curtis is deferring the victory lap for now, emphasizing that “Reclaim the Flame” is supposed to be a multiyear growth strategy.
For instance, of the $50 million that Restaurant Brands earmarked to enhance restaurants’ appearances along with franchisees’ own investment, Burger King spent just $15 million in 2022.
“We’re not even halfway, and these items just take time,” Curtis said.
