Restaurant Brands Iberia plans to invest €150M in Burger King

Restaurant Brands Iberia (RB Iberia) announced on Wednesday that it intends to transform Portugal “into a key market for Burger King”, planning a €150 million investment and the opening of 90 restaurants by 2025.

RB Iberia on Wednesday announced the completion of the purchase of the 158 restaurants of the Burger King chain from Ibersol in Portugal and Spain for €260 million.

“RB Iberia’s goal is to transform Portugal into a key market for Burger King globally with an investment of €40 million and around 15 openings” this year, the group said.

Moreover, “the group has an ambitious growth plan for the brand in Portugal for the next three years, with an investment of €150 million and the opening of 90 restaurants between 2022 and 2025”, the company said.

At a global level, RB Iberia’s plan for this year “involves investing €130 million, to grow above 25%”.

RB Iberia plans to open “120 new restaurants during this financial year to surpass the system’s 1,200 (owned and franchised), of which more than 80 will be Burger King Portugal and Spain”, the group states.

This purchase “is strategic for the group,” says Gregorio Jiménez, president of RB Iberia, quoted in a statement.

“It will allow us to accelerate the development of Burger King in the Portuguese market,” and “the support of our partner Cinvenm was fundamental to close this deal successfully,” he said, adding that he intends to “move forward in the geographic diversification of the brand through an innovative and sustainable restaurant model.

The finalisation of the operation “depends on the conclusion of the regulatory procedures with the Competition Authority that are already underway”.

The operation includes the integration of 121 restaurants in Portugal and 37 in Spain, which will increase the number of own spaces of RB Iberia to 775, of which 722 correspond to Burger King.

In Portugal, the Burger King brand currently has 164 restaurants, of which 137 are franchised, and 27 are owned.

Last year, the brand’s sales in Portugal were worth €145 million.

“The brand has recently reached 900 restaurants in Spain, with 574 of its own and 326 franchised,” the group said.

Burger King Spain’s total sales exceeded €1 billion last year (almost 30% more than in the previous period), having recovered the pre-pandemic figures in record time.