Burger King UK signs whopper deal for 74 restaurants

Burger King UK has snapped up 74 restaurants from its largest franchise partner as part of a plan to drive growth.

The company has agreed to acquire the portfolio of stores from Karali Group in its biggest ever franchise acquisition.

It will increase the number of Burger King UK’s directly owned sites to 266, around half its 533 UK restaurants.

The company plans to invest in remodelling the restaurants, which include 36 drive-though and 27 shopping centre sites, and introduce digital kiosks for pre-ordering and digital menu screens.

Burger King UK is aiming to expand its owned and sub-franchised restaurant portfolio to 700 sites by 2026 and plans to open around one restaurant per week until the end of 2022.

It has secured £110m of fixed-term financing from NatWest, Rabobank, and AIG to fund growth plans.

Alasdair Murdoch, chief executive at Burger King UK, said the deal marked an “important milestone” for the business.

“We believe that we have a strong expansion pipeline and are well positioned to take advantage of the clear market opportunities ahead,” he said.

The company also acquired 12 restaurants from its UK franchise partners Kaykem Fast Foods Limited and Saxby earlier this year.

Burger King was founded in 1953 and now runs 18,600 restaurants in over 100 countries.

Image: Fierman Much / Shutterstock