Burger King Sizzles as Popeyes Slumps — Update

By Adriano Marchese

Burger King appears to be recouping lost ground in the burger wars, while Popeyes is falling further behind in the battle for chicken lovers.

Restaurant Brands International on Wednesday reported higher sales for its Burger King business, including 5.8% sales-store sales growth in the U.S., a sign that its "Reclaim the Flame" plan to boost its sales and improve profits for its franchisees is gaining traction.

Burger King's momentum comes as the burger wars heated up in recent months. A video of McDonald's chief executive sampling the chain's new Big Arch burger went viral and sparked a wave of online mockery. Burger King jumped into the skirmish with its own jabs, amplifying the rivalry across social media.

Burger King also has centered marketing around improvements to its Whopper sandwich, such as releasing a new Star-Wars themed BBQ Bounty Whopper, while also highlighting combo meals. CEO Joshua Kobza said the results reflect a brand that's regaining trust with consumers and building momentum. "And we believe we're in the early innings for that journey," he said in an earnings call Wednesday.

The strength at Burger King stands in contrast with challenges elsewhere in the portfolio. Popeyes, the company's fried-chicken brand, remains the biggest pressure point as it contends with uneven execution, slipping guest satisfaction and a menu that's gotten too complicated to manage well.

Shares recently traded 5% lower at $77.61.

Popeyes' sales have been under pressure since mid-2024 as the company failed to tap into emerging consumer trends, such as value menus that other competitors were featuring, leaving Popeyes out of sync with what guests were looking for.

Kobza wants to remedy the problems this year by focusing on improving the guest experience, narrowing the menu around core chicken offerings and giving customers a better value proposition.

"We have a clear understanding of the underlying drivers and are moving quickly to address them," Kobza said, adding that he expects the efforts to help return sales to positive territory in the second half of 2026.

Tim Hortons, the iconic Canadian coffee-and-donut chain, also is feeling pressure as Canadian consumers pull back. The company pointed to softer traffic, weaker household confidence and a tough winter as factors weighing on sales, which rose 1.5%, a notable shift for the brand that typically provides steady performance across the portfolio.

Firehouse Subs, the company's smallest chain and most recent addition to the portfolio, saw a slight decline in comparable sales, though system-wide sales rose 7.2% as new restaurants contributed more to the total.

The company still backs its long-term targets of about 3% same-store sales growth and 8% organic adjusted operating income growth, backed by more careful spending and new restaurant additions.

In the quarter, Restaurant Brands posted net income of $338 million, or 97 cents a share, up from $159 million, or 39 cents a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings came to 86 cents a share, topping Wall Street views by three cents.

Total revenue rose to $2.26 billion from $2.11 billion, just above forecasts.

As a franchiser, Restaurant Brands makes most of its money from franchisees rather than from running restaurants itself. System-wide sales growth, which measures how much money all the restaurants in the network are generating, rose by 6.2% to $11.51 billion.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 06, 2026 12:32 ET (16:32 GMT)