Operations

Popeyes only bright spot in RBI Q3 preliminary results

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October 14, 2020

Popeyes Louisiana Chicken is expected to be the only bright spot in Restaurant Brands International Q3 financial results, with substantial drops in sales growth across the company's other two QSRs, Burger King and Tim Hortons, according to preliminary unaudited results.

Popeyes and its fanatically loved chicken sandwich helped buoy overall company sales results thanks to a 17.4% increase in sales at the brand, systemwide, including a hefty 19.7% increase in the U.S. for that brand.

But for the home of the Whopper, Burger King, Q3 comp sales fell 7% systemwide, while "brother-brand," Tim Hortons experienced a 12.5% slide in quarterly comp sales, the company said. All told, systemwide consolidated sales for RBI's brands fell 5.4% for the quarter, with the largest single loss with Tim Horton in Canada, which dropped 13.7%, compared to a 1.2% decrease in sales for that brand last year's third quarter.

The company said that as of the end of September, 96% of system-wide restaurants were open.

The Toronto, Canada-based company has approximately $32 billion in annual systemwide sales and 27,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and U.S. territories.