Apparently, when you spruce up your restaurants and improve the way they operate, you can get more families.
That, at least, is according to Burger King parent Restaurant Brands International (RBI), whose executives noted that the company has successfully lured more families into its U.S. restaurants—particularly at dinner.
“We’re seeing more families coming back, and we’re seeing more people coming in for dinner because the dining rooms are beautiful and clean and inviting,” RBI CEO Josh Kobza told analysts at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference this week, according to a transcript on the financial services site AlphaSense.
Anybody who understands Burger King history might appreciate that comment. The Miami-based chain has long struggled to lure families to its restaurants, at least when compared with rivals Wendy’s and McDonald’s. It was largely considered a concept aimed at young men and other heavy fast-food consumers.
The chain’s challenges with families have often been cited as a reason its average-unit volumes lag both brands. A typical Burger King generates about 40% of the volumes of an average McDonald’s, and 76% of the volumes of your typical Wendy’s.
It has a long way to go to catch up with either, but the brand’s executives believe it is on its way. Its same-store sales, which declined 1% last quarter, nevertheless easily outdistanced both rivals. Executives credited those operations, which have helped the brand regain traction following a brutal 2022 and 2023.
“We went from one of the last, worst performers in the pack, to now we’re in the middle of the pack,” Kobza said. “That doesn’t happen very often in a big system like this, but there’s been consistent and really remarkable progress.”
Burger King’s sales struggles coming out of the pandemic led to the bankruptcy filings of three major franchisees, while some others were in danger of the same fate. Hundreds of locations closed.
The company posited that the chain’s problem historically has been a combination of poor operations and old restaurants.
Burger King and parent RBI spent billions to fix the system. The company started focusing on operations under Tom Curtis, who oversees the brand domestically. It acquired Carrols to remodel many of its restaurants. And it is providing incentives to franchisees to spruce up stores.
The company expects that 85% of Burger King’s nearly 7,000 locations will be remodeled by 2028.
That effort gives Burger King the ability to go after different groups. As such, it is more aggressively marketing to families, such as the current promotion surrounding How to Train Your Dragon.
That promotion features a Dragon Flame-Grilled Whopper featuring a red-and-orange marbled bun that looks like a flame. There are also Fiery Dragon Mozzarella Fries featuring Calabrian chili pepper, a “Soaring Strawberry Lemonade” and a “Viking’s Chocolate Sundae.”
“As we make progress on some of those fundamentals, the operations are more consistent, the facilities are better maintained, I think that gives us more permission to go do other things, more interesting things,” Kobza said. “To do things like How to Train Your Dragon and do a Whopper that’s got a flame on the bun and invite kids and families back into our restaurants and bring people back for dinner.”
The company also argues that the early-innings status of its comeback means it has the potential to continue outperforming for years to come.
“We still have a lot of restaurants to remodel in front of us,” Kobza said. “We still have pockets and portfolios that are not operating the way we want to, where, as we fix them, we should outperform and have better sales than the others have. So I think we have, in some way, the benefits of progress still to be made on all those fronts.”
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