Restaurant Brands’ first quarter sales are up 8.5 per cent following its acquisition of 42 KFC outlets in Australia earlier this year.
Restaurant Brands’ total sales during the 12 weeks ending May 23 were $96.6 million, an increase of 8.5 per cent or $7.6 million on the equivalent period last year.
Of the increase, the acquisition of 42 KFC outlets in Australia by the Kiwi franchisor contributed $8.1 million for the quarter. On April 27, Restaurant Brands acquired 42 KFC stores in New South Wales.
For the period from April 28 May 23, total sales were AUD $7.6 million (NZD $8.1 million). Store numbers remained steady at 42 during the quarter.
Same store sales for the Restaurant Brands group was 0.4 per cent, led by Pizza Hut which grew 4.3 per cent with KFC up 1.4 per cent and Starbucks Coffee up 1.8 per cent. Carl’s Jr. ended the quarter with negative same store sales growth of 13.5 per cent.
Total company store numbers were up on the equivalent period last year by 33 to 215 with the Australian acquisition, off-set by Pizza Hut store sales. For the first quarter, total sales for KFC were $65.4 million, up 1.4 per cent or $0.9 million on the equivalent 12 week period last year.
Total sales for the quarter for Restaurant Brands’ own Pizza Hut stores were $9.2 million, a decrease of 11.8 per cent on the equivalent 12 week period last year, which the company said was due to having nine fewer stores as the company, ‘continued its strategy of selling lower volume and regional stores to independent franchisees.’ Same store sales for the quarter increased 4.3 per cent.
Starbucks Coffee total sales for the quarter were $6.0 million, down $0.1 million or 2.2 per cent on the equivalent period last year. Total Carl’s Jr. sales for the quarter were $7.9 million, a decrease of 1.1 per cent on the equivalent period last year. On a same store basis sales for the quarter were down 13.5 per cent.