Burger King has announced plans to open 200 new restaurants throughout the UK over the next four years. The fast food chain is planning to expand following a sharp rise in profits.
The burger giant has yet to reveal the locations of the new branches, but says it has “good visibility” as to the regions it wants to expand in. Burger King's revenue increased by 68% in 2021 to £211.7million.
That revenue increase was driven by a 46% rise in like-for-like sales, according to the Mirror, while operating profits recovered to £33.4million after the company posted £7.5million losses amid the Covid pandemic in 2020. Burger King said it benefited from the addition of 48 new owned restaurants last year.
Chief executive Alasdair Murdoch said: "Burger King UK delivered a strong performance in 2021, proactively managing Covid-19 headwinds through investment in digital sales, including home delivery, and continued restaurant expansion with a focus on Drive Thru. Both delivery and Drive Thru sales were strong throughout 2021 and will remain key areas of focus as we execute on our growth strategy.
"We have a strong development pipeline to further grow our UK footprint, and we are very well positioned to take advantage of the clear market opportunities ahead of us. I would like to thank all of our employees for their ongoing dedication and hard work, without which our ongoing growth would not be possible."
Fast food rival KFC has also revealed plans to open new restaurants, or relocate existing branches, across 500 locations in the UK. The fried chicken chain has listed hundreds of locations on its website where it want to open new sites - with plans for more full-size restaurants and drive-thrus.
On the KFC website, the fast food giant says: “We’re on the lookout for over 500 sites.” It then invites developers to get in touch if they have a space that could be of interest, and says the company will pay £20,000 “for all recognised introductions”.
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