Burger King Posts 8.4% Same-Store Sales Growth as Popeyes Sinks Again

Burger King's U.S. same-store sales rose 8.4% in the third quarter, while sister chain Popeyes fell 2.2% on the same day it dismissed its chief marketing officer. Parent Restaurant Brands International reported the figures on Thursday.

The gap between the two brands is now the central fact of RBI's portfolio. Popeyes has posted negative U.S. same-store sales in eight of the past nine quarters. Burger King has exceeded 8% growth in each of the past two periods, after a 5.8% gain in the first quarter.

Executives said Burger King outperformed its fast-food peers by nearly 10 percentage points in the quarter. That claim covers same-store sales, not traffic, and the company did not break out guest counts. The results come during a broadly weak stretch for fast food, as inflation-squeezed consumers cut back on dining and industry traffic slides.

What is driving Burger King's numbers?

The company began the year by promoting improvements to the Whopper and publicly vowing to fix operations. It then applied the same treatment to chicken nuggets and used a marketing partnership with Dragon Ball Z to push kids meals.

The results, according to management:

• Whopper sales up double digits this year, CEO Josh Kobza said.
• Nugget sales up 35%.
• King Jr. meal sales up 40%, the highest level in more than a decade.
• 78% of consumers say they would consider dining at Burger King, up from 70% three years ago, per executive chairman Patrick Doyle.

"Burger King has delivered over four years of industry outperformance, and now we've seen three consecutive quarters of truly exceptional results," Doyle told analysts Thursday. "We're taking share. Our franchisees are investing. And the team continues to raise their standards."

The consideration metric is a survey figure, not a sales number. It measures intent, not visits. Doyle credited franchisee investment, though RBI did not quantify how much franchisees have spent on remodels and equipment, or how that burden sits on franchisee margins in a weak-traffic year.

Why did Popeyes cut wings?

RBI has scaled back the chicken wing platform Popeyes introduced in 2023 and backed with a Super Bowl ad in 2024. The retreat is a menu-engineering decision, and management admits it hurts near-term sales.

"Wings adds operational complexity, and simplifying the platform allows us to put greater emphasis behind core items that define Popeyes: our bone-in chicken, tenders, and the sandwich," Kobza said. The decision has pressured sales, but "we think it was the right trade-off for the long-term health of the business."

Stripping a heavily advertised product from the menu two years after launch is a concession that the platform failed to earn its operational keep. The CMO dismissal on Wednesday signals RBI views the problem as partly marketing, not solely menu structure. The company offered no timeline for when Popeyes might return to positive comps.

How strong is the international business?

Very, by RBI's own account. Same-store sales across all brands outside the U.S. and Canada rose 3.9%, the 22nd consecutive quarter of international growth. Burger King opened its 13,000th location outside the U.S. and Canada, with international same-store sales up 3.8%.

Popeyes now has 2,000 international units. That base has doubled in two years and grown sevenfold since RBI bought the chain in 2017. RBI runs the international business as a separate unit covering all brands outside the U.S. and Canada, and Doyle said more than a dozen of its international businesses each generate over $100 million in annual sales.

"I still think investors underestimate just how strong the business is," Doyle said.

What about Tim Hortons and Firehouse Subs?

Tim Hortons posted 1.8% same-store sales growth in Canada and 1.5% overall including U.S. stores, an acceleration from earlier weakness in the year. Management credited a new line of matcha beverages with drawing younger and female consumers, plus better-than-expected results from a loyalty partnership with retailer Canadian Tire. Firehouse Subs grew same-store sales 2%.

Neither chain received the item-level sales detail Burger King got. Whether Tim Hortons' matcha lift is sustaining traffic or trading down coffee buyers was not disclosed.

The quarter leaves RBI with one brand carrying the portfolio, one searching for a marketing reset, and an international engine that has now grown for 22 straight quarters — a record Doyle clearly expects investors to reprice, even as U.S. fast-food traffic remains the industry's unresolved problem heading into the fourth quarter.