Burger King UK’s (BKUK) acquisition of the Karali Group and its 74 restaurants, gives it critical mass and was a strategically important move, BKUK’s chief executive Alasdair Murdoch told MCA.
The deal to acquire its second largest franchise partner, announced last week, was supported by the securing of £110m in fixed-term funding, which Murdoch said would also help to fuel the growth of the business for a number of years, so could be seen as “a positive statement of intent”.
The addition of Karali’s estate gives it an additional 36 drive-thru locations – and sales channel Murdoch believes it key to Burger King’s growth.
It also builds the company’s portfolio of sites in the north west, particularly in Liverpool and Manchester where it previously had fewer company-operated locations.
“It gives us two of the big cities to grow in […] so geographically it is really opportunitistic for us and we think there is a lot more growth as well up in the north west.
The business, which owns the master franchise rights for Burger King in the UK is targeting 700 owned or sub franchised sites by 2026, with a clear pipeline in place over the coming years, he said.
“I don’t think there will necessarily be many more large acquisitions, because there aren’t that many more of them within the system,” Murdoch explained.
The business has been opening at a rate of around one new restaurant per week, with 30-35 of those opened by BKUK.
Comparative to its biggest competitors, McDonald’s and KFC, Burger King has substantially less sites in the UK, but with a pipeline of more than 200 restaurants stretching across the next three to four years, Murdoch is positive about the opportunities to scale up the business.
Keep an eye out for the full interview with Alasdair Murdoch in MCA Today next week.
