Dive Brief:
- Popeyes U.S. saw a 2.2% decline in same-store sales in Q3, while Burger King posted 8.4% comps growth in the U.S., according to parent company Restaurant Brands International’s earnings release.
- The period marked the seventh-consecutive quarterly drop for the chicken chain. It also marked the sixth-consecutive increase for Burger King, extending a strong divergence in sales for the two restaurant operations.
- Despite this, Popeyes’ declines moderated relative to Q2, when the chain saw a 5.2% erosion. At Burger King, investments in remodels and menu innovation have strengthened the chain's performance to the point that executives are planning to speed up the refranchising of restaurants acquired from Carrols in 2024, according to the company’s earnings call.
Dive Insight:
Popeyes’ sales decline was driven by an underperforming LTO and menu simplification efforts, RBI CEO Josh Kobza said. The brand’s September revival of its $6 Big Box meal failed to drive substantial incremental sales, and this was exacerbated by changes to the brand’s wings offering, he said.
“As part of our efforts to streamline operations and refocus on our core menu, we made a deliberate decision to scale back our Wings offering,” Kobza said. “Wings add to operational complexity, and simplifying the platform allows us to put greater emphasis behind the core items.”
He added that reducing the variety of wings the chain sells is necessary for the long-term health of the brand.
That emphasis on core items — bone-in chicken, tenders and sandwiches — has borne some fruit, Kobza said.
Across the first three quarters of 2026, Popeyes saw gains in customer satisfaction, particularly in value and food quality. Satisfaction with the brand’s core chicken products is at a record high, Kobza said.
At Burger King, which has been the strongest-performing QSR burger brand for multiple quarters, improvements to the chain’s Whopper and chicken nugget lines helped sustain its momentum. Whopper sales are up double digits year over year, Kobza said, while nuggets sales have spiked about 35%.
Kobza said there remains substantial room to improve core menu items and extend the chain’s run of sector-leading comps growth.
“With volume still well below peak historical levels, we see considerable room for further growth,” Kobza told analysts.
The success of these moves and the long-term performance of Burger King’s Reclaim the Flame initiative have set it up to accelerate the refranchising of its U.S. restaurant holdings.
Sami Siddiqui, RBI’s CFO, said Burger King has refranchised 135 restaurants to date in 2026. Under the new pace, the chain will transfer “a couple hundred” more restaurants to operators by the end of the year. RBI aims to finish refranchising Carrols’ mammoth restaurant system — which once included more than 1,000 Burger Kings — by the end of 2027.
