-KH News Desk
The deal with Karali will increase BKUK’s (Burger King United Kingdom) directly owned portfolio to 266 restaurants, half of its 533 strong UK store estate. New financing with its second franchise-Karali, enables Burger King UK to commit to growth, supporting plans to expand its owned and sub-franchised restaurant portfolio from 533 to over 700 by 2026.
The expansion targets will be achieved through new restaurant openings, and with targets of one restaurant opening per week until the end of 2022, alongside franchise acquisitions.
The portfolio will add to BKUK’s diverse multi-format estate, with the new stores spanning 36 Drive-Thru, 9 In-Line, 27 Shopping Centre and 2 Leisure restaurants. The acquired portfolio performed well in recent years, demonstrating resilience to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. BKUK plans to further energies the newly acquired restaurants, incorporating them into its major remodeling programmed to deliver an improved customer experience and new visual identity, including pre-order digital counters and digital menu screens.
Since the start of 2021, BKUK has added 701 owned restaurants to its estate comprising 391 new restaurant openings and the acquisition of 31 sub-franchised restaurants. BKUK’s leadership team continue to see significant market opportunity for BKUK and remain focused on delivering against an ambitious set of growth plans.
Alasdair Murdoch, CEO at BKUK said: “The acquisition of Karali – the largest consolidation BKUK has made – marks an important milestone for the business, bringing more restaurants under our ownership, enhancing value, and driving operational efficiencies. We believe that we have a strong expansion pipeline and are well positioned to take advantage of the clear market opportunities ahead.
With this transaction, Burger king UK would continue to enhance the value of the portfolio whilst the acquisition of Karali marks as an important milestone for business to bring in more restaurants while improving value and make use of opportunities ahead.
