Burger King and Tim Hortons report best sales growth in years for Q1 2015

We’ve heard a lot about the fierce competition that some fast food franchises have been involved in through recent months. Burger King and Tim Hortons, on the other hand, have been relatively quiet since announcing the completion of their merger and the creation of new entity Restaurant Brands International Inc. in December 2014. But perhaps there’s something to be said for keeping your head down and focusing on yourself for a while, because this week Restaurant Brands International (RBI) emerged from the shadows with the best sales growth in years for both Burger King and Tim Hortons.

Tim Hortons was the big winner with a comparable sales increase of 5.3 percent, but Burger King was not far behind with a 4.6 percent comparable sales boost. Meanwhile RBI reported that System-wide sales grew 8.1% at TH and 9.6% at BK in constant currency. Compared to the 1.6 percent comparable sales growth that Tim Hortons saw in 2014 (plus 2.0 percent for Burger King), those are significant improvements. What’s more, they seem to show that Tim Hortons and Burger King are supporting each other in a way that proves their merger was a solid plan to increase growth on both sides.

"We are off to a strong start in 2015, having achieved one of our best quarters of comparable sales growth in years for both of our iconic brands, TIM HORTONS® and BURGER KING®,” said Daniel Schwartz, former wunderkind CEO of Burger King and now CEO of Restaurant Brands International. “We continue to execute on brand-specific strategies across marketing, operations and development. We have established a solid foundation in our first full quarter as RBI and will look to build on this momentum throughout the rest of the year."

For more statistics and numbers, check out the full Q1 2015 results for Restaurant Brands International here.