Burger King to close 400 restaurants across the US

Fast food giant Burger King is set to close 400 restaurants across the United States despite an increase in sales.

Burger King will close 400 stores across America this year.

Burger King fans are set for more grief after the fast food chain announced it will shut down up to 400 stores across the United States this year.

The fast-food chain CEO estimates the closure of hundreds of sites over the course of 2023, according to a recent earnings call.

The US Sun reports that despite better-than-expected sales in the first quarter, the closures will be made in order to “improve the overall health of the system”.

Burger King saw a 12.3 per cent increase in global same-store sales in the first quarter of the year and an 8.7 per cent increase in same-store sales in the US.

The figures show the promising changes that the chain’s whopping $400 million ‘Reclaim the Flame’ campaign has had on the brand and its restaurants.

However, the chain continues to have an uncertain future, especially after two of its key franchises, Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, and TOMS King Holdings declared bankruptcy.

This was reportedly due to a decline in footfall and revenue.

According to its earnings release, in the first quarter, Burger King closed a net 124 locations across the county, or 1.7 per cent, to end the quarter with just under 7000 US restaurants.

In a bid to reassure investors and fans, Josh Kobza, CEO of Burger King’s parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) noted that the chain has historically shuttered hundreds of locations in the US each year.

Josh Kobza, CEO of Burger King’s parent company Restaurant Brands International.

RBI outperformed Wall Street analyst estimations for its first-quarter earnings and revenue.

“There will always be a minority [of franchisees] who aren’t dedicated, enthusiastic operators,” Chairman Patrick Doyle said on the call.

“We’ll work with them to leave the system.”

Mr Kobza admitted said there’s “a fair degree of uncertainty” around the figure of 400 Burger King closures.

But he added that the brand intends to target low-volume restaurants first.

He noted that for the chain’s future franchisees will play a huge role in improving the system in the US as they will all be made to become team players to work with the company to make necessary changes, the CEO said.

He warned: “If they can’t, we have operators ready to step in and do what’s required.”

“We’re feeling increasingly positive about the case path forward this year and into the future,” the CEO concluded.

This article originally appeared on the US Sun and was reproduced with permission